


We Came From the Darkness

by Typhemoonrise



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Basically, City of Ember AU, F/F, Guys I slipped in volleyball, M/M, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Rape, Mild Language, Omega Verse, Panic Attacks, i'm so proud of myself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 11:02:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 32,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9817139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Typhemoonrise/pseuds/Typhemoonrise
Summary: She adjusts her glasses on her nose, and grabs a pick that was leaned up against the wall, and swings. And swings, and swings. The wall crumbles away beneath her fervor, and patches of pink sky begin to show. She hears gasping and whispering behind her but she pays no mind, and keeps swinging. Each stroke reminding her of her efforts, each clank reminding her of the freedom freedom she craves for herself and her pack. With a final swing, the earthen cage collapses into dust, and Kiyoko is standing there, looking over hills of green and skies of orange.A City of Ember AU, with Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics





	1. Skies

 

 

 

Kiyoko swung her pickaxe into the rock-hard earth of the tunnel in front of her, chipping the earth just that much more towards freedom, towards _light_. She lost herself in the clank of metal driving against rock, echoing throughout the small, dimly lit tunnel.

 

“Hey, just a little bit longer, then we go back. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you staying longer than usual,” Tsukishima said from her right,” We have people to take care of, and I can’t have you ruining your health.” Kiyoko nods, even though it’s dark and he probably couldn’t see it, but she knows he got the message anyway. She swings her pickaxe over her shoulder again when he turns away, driving his own pickaxe into the earthen cage. They pick at the tunnel for a little longer when Tsukishima puts his pickaxe down.

 

“Hey, it’s time to go-” and just as he speaks these words, Kiyoko slams a particularly hard swing at the wall, and a hole is made, with a weak, sparkling light filtering through it. Kiyoko gasps, and drops her pick. Tsukishima walks toward her in the cramped dark, and she can feel him trembling where their shoulders touch. She reaches forward to run her hands through the light, soaking in it’s warmth, and watches the dust particles fly through the air. Tsukishima reaches towards the light and mirrors her actions, disbelief written on in the pallor of his face in the weak light.

 

“Oh my savior-”

 

“We did it-”

 

Their rejoices bounce of the walls as they excitedly dance with laughter. When they finally settle down, the reality of the situation hits them.

 

“Tsukishima, they aren’t going to let us leave,” Kiyoko says finally, and he looks back at her, reflective golden brown eyes piercing through the dark behind a set of black frames,” We’re two of the three only Alphas of our brood.”

 

“Then we won’t tell them, won’t let them stop us. Gather everyone in our brood, tell them to meet us after curfew by the greenhouses, and to bring all of their valuables, food, and clothes. We’re leaving tonight.” Kiyoko nods, and pulls reflective tape (for quick repairs) from her tool belt and tapes over the hole, regretfully covering the stream of light. Tsukishima takes a permanent marker and scribbled it in, so none but them know that it’s there. They make their way out of the tunnels, grabbing their picks as they go. When they reach the end of them, and artificial light filters through from the central mining room, Kiyoko stops.

 

“I’ve got East and South, if you’ve got West and North,” she says even quieter than usual to ensure that not a soul hears them. So quiet, that Tsukishima wouldn’t have heard it if he hadn’t known her and been looking for it. He nods, and they step in the central mining room.

 

“Kiyoko-san! Tsukishima-san! You two are always so quiet! If I hadn’t noticed that you were the only two left on clock, and hadn’t been waiting for you to lock up, I wouldn’t have known you were there at all!” The Mining command officer booms. Kiyoko never remembers his name, and doesn’t care enough to find out.

 

“Of course,” Tsukishima says with a little difficulty, and Kiyoko realizes he doesn’t know his name either,” We’re very sorry for keeping you so late, we lost track of time sir.”

 

“Now, now, it’s alright, you two are hard at work, and you’re only, what, nineteen and twenty-one?” the man says, and Kiyoko tenses and adjusts her glasses when she realizes that this man was suspicious enough of them to look at the system for their information, and presses her lips together when she feels Tsukishima do the same,” You should be off looking for good Omegas, but who am I to judge, you’ve got families to take care of! But don’t let me see you out this late again, alright?”

 

“Of course, we’re very sorry, sir,” Kiyoko says, bowing politely, Tsukishima mirroring her apology and actions. The commander nods in satisfaction, and they clock out and leave the mines. They silently nod to each other, and split off in different directions; Kiyoko going East, and Tsukishima going West. Kiyoko walks briskly until she reaches a tall, uneven home exactly like every other home on the cobbled street. She picks a small round stone up, ash and dirt stained nails running across it’s cool surface, before she flicks her wrist, and the stone flies up to bounced softly off of the dark second story window. A moment later, a tall, sweet smelling brunette appears, yawning and scowling down at her.

 

“Can I not get a wink of sleep Shi-chan?” the brunette whines to Kiyoko, and she sighs in exasperation. This man was their Den Mother? And Lead Technician in the entirety of The city Kasai? Well, he acted like their first Den Child.

 

“No, Oikawa, Apparently you cannot. Meet us after curfew by the greenhouses, bring all of your valuables, food, and clothes. We’re leaving tonight,” Kiyoko says briskly. Oikawa’s eyes sharpen, and Kiyoko is reminded exactly why he is who he is. He nods, and ducks his head inside, slamming the window shut behind him. Kiyoko hums in satisfaction, and pivots on her heel. If she hurries, maybe she can catch Noya before he retires from taking messages to go home. He also knows he’ll be in the main square about this time, trying to catch as many messages as he can before curfew is called and they are all ordered to go home. Besides herself, Tsukishima, and Oikawa, Noya is the only person that would be wide awake at this hour, working. She dashes through the streets, dodging straying people and objects in her wake. She skids to a stop by the fountain in the main square, just as Noya is taking off the red cloth wrap that marks him as a messenger.

 

“Noya! Noya!” she calls, and the spiky dark brunette omega looks up at her, brown eyes wide in surprise.

 

“Yeah? What’s going on? Is everything alright? Is someone hurt?” Noya panics, taking in her hurried appearance.

 

“Everythings fine! I just wanted to catch you before you went home! But please meet us after curfew by the greenhouses, bring all of your valuables, food, and clothes. We’re leaving tonight!” Kiyoko whispers fiercely, pushing her glasses up her nose, casting glances around the nearly-empty square.

 

“Do you want me to tell the others?” Noya says, tensing, brown eyes darting to the woman eyeing them across the square. Kiyoko shakes her head.

 

“No just go home and pack, me and Tsukishima are on it.” Kiyoko whispers back, and Noya nods, and she can see the his eyes light up in relief. He must have had a long shift to be this tired. Noya scampers off, and Kiyoko rushes away. She only stops when she reaches another house, shutters painted a bright red. She jogs up the walk, and knocks on the door. A few moments later, a silver haired omeagan man appears, yawning.

 

“Suga, no time to explain, I’ve got to get around before curfew but meet us after curfew by the greenhouses, bring all of your valuables, food, and clothes. We’re leaving tonight!” Kiyoko says, and sprints away, ignoring Sugawara’s sharp cry of ‘ _Kiyoko!_ ” call after her. She nearly flys through the street, feet pounding the cobbled roads, as fast as her legs can take her. She slides around a familiar street corner and skids to a stop in front of another house. She grabs a handful of pebbles (No time) and swings her arm back to hurl them at a three story window. The window opens almost immediately (Which she’s grateful for) and a fiery headed omega looks questioningly down at her with big brown eyes.

 

“Hinata, meet us after curfew by the greenhouses, bring all of your valuables, food, and clothes. We’re leaving tonight! And do it quietly!” Kiyoko calls to him, and he nods and sticks his head back inside. As Kiyoko dashes away, she knows she can count on him doing something important quickly and quietly. She finally stops in front of a run down one-story home at the edge of the blackness, and lets herself in, knowing Kenma wouldn’t mind and wouldn’t bother coming to the door if she knocked this late. She skirts around the familiar hallways and stops outside his bedroom door. She knocks, knuckles softly bumping against the wood as not to startle the small omega, and lets herself in. Kenma looks up when she enters, slanted golden eyes rimmed in red, and snot running from a cherry nose, and Kiyoko’s heart sinks.

 

“You’re sick,” she whispers. Kenma hides behind his curtain of two-toned hair before replying.

 

“Yes,” he says,” And why are you here?” She purses her lips before reaching over to run here fingers through the dyed blonde and black roots.

 

“I’m here to help you pack. We’re leaving tonight,” she answers, turning towards the closet and pulling down two of the largest canvas bags stashed here for this very purpose, and a sleeping bag,” You stay there, I’ve got this.”

 

“We can take my books, right?”

 

“A few.” Kiyoko answers. She yanks open his drawers and (as neatly as she possibly can) stuffs clothes and an extra pair of shoes into the first one. Then she goes to the kitchen and empties out the sparse food cabinets into the second. She comes back to find Kenma sniffling and stuffing several leather-bound journals into the last bag. She helps him, and within five minutes, they have everything Kenma needs (Not wants, he tried to lose the shoes and bring another book, but she wouldn’t let him) in the bags and she’s dressing him warmly, to protect him against the cold of the mines.They leave not long after that and head towards Kiyoko’s house, her pulling along the ailing omega. They are walking down the street when an officer stops them.

 

“Hey! You two! It’s past curfew!” he calls. Kiyoko turns to him and bows apologetically.

 

“I’m sorry sir, but he was sick, and I wanted to take him to my home to take care of him,” Kiyoko lies, pushing her glasses up out of habit,” My house is right around the bend here, and he doesn’t have anyone at home.” Kenma gives a pathetic sniffle to back up her story, and the officer sighs.

 

“Alright, just don’t let me catch you again, or I’ll have to report you,” the officer warns. She nods, and hurries to her house. She deposits Kenma on the sparse couch and gestures for him to stay there. SHe runs through the home, gathering food and clothes in two bags. She stuffs her mother’s jewelry, hair things, a sleeping bag, and soap into the third. She trips into the living room and picks up two of the three bags there as well as her own and slings them over her shoulder. Kenma gets up and follows her, and they sneak outside into the alleyway beside her house.

 

“Follow me, and be as silent as you can,” she whispers to Kenma, and they sneak from alleyway to alleyway, and having close-calls more than once. Finally, after much silent maneuvering, they arrived at the greenhouses. Oikawa, Noya, Suga, Hinata, Yahaba (A brown eyed, silvery brunette omega who was Oikawa’s cousin), Natsu (Hinata’s unpresented, brown eyed, fiery headed little sister), Hanamaki (A brown eyed, strawberry blonde omega), Ennoshita (A brown sleepy-eyed ravenette omega), and Lev (a green eyed, silver haired Alpha, and the only other one of their brood) were already standing in the shadows, waiting for the rest to arrive. Moments after Kiyoko and Kenma entered the area, Tsukishima appeared from the right with Akaashi (A wavy black haired, gray-green eyed ravenette omega) and Kunimi (Another sleepy eyed ravenette omega) in tow.

 

“Any trouble?” Kiyoko asked.

 

“No,” Tsukishima answered,” But we better get going before we’re missed.” Kiyoko nods and they get everyone together, Kiyoko counting heads. When she’s satisfied everyone is accounted for, she points at Lev.

 

“Bring in from the rear, make sure everyone is okay, if there is any problems, report to the front,” Kiyoko tells him,” And try to ease to load of the smaller omegas, this is going to be a long walk.” Lev nods, and creeps to the back.

 

“Alright, let’s do this,” Tsukishima says, and they move forward, creeping around the sleeping city to the entrance to the mines. They reach them in due time, and Kiyoko tries the door. Locked. She gestures for Hinata to come to the front, and the redhead kneels in front of the lock and produces tool seemingly from mid-air as he works his magic, all the while the Alphas scanning for trouble. The door clicks open, and Kiyoko rushes forward, picking Hinata up and Tsukishima ushering everyone inside. Kiyoko hears Lev close the door behind them, opens a locker, gives everyone flashlight hard helmets, and moves towards the tunnel that she’s mined in everyday for the last eight years, her group stumbling after in the dark. They walk along for about an hour, sometimes in sleepy silence, sometimes in song, sometimes in slight chatter. When they reach the opening, Tsukishima moves to her side.

 

“You should do the honors,” he says, and he says it loud enough so that everyone hears him, and silence falls over the group. Kiyoko purses her lips, and this time not from uncomfort, but happiness, to keep herself from crying, because savior knows she’s worked everyday for so long and so hard and-

 

“You okay?” Tsukishima asks, startling her from her thoughts.

 

“More than okay,” she answers, voice hoarse from emotion. She adjusts her glasses on her nose, and grabs a pick that was leaned up against the wall, and swings. And swings, and swings. The wall crumbles away beneath her fervor, and patches of pink sky begin to show. She hears gasping and whispering behind her but she pays no mind, and keeps swinging. Each stroke reminding her of her efforts, each clank reminding her of the freedom freedom she craves for herself and her pack. With a final swing, the earthen cage collapses into dust, and Kiyoko is standing there, looking over hills of green and skies of orange. There’s a shout from behind her, and Tsukishima struggles to hold them back saying ‘ _There might be something dangerous!_ ’ and Kiyoko makes her first step on the surface. She stands still for a moment, assessing. Then she waves her hand. All at once, the omegans break forward, rolling onto to the ground. Only three stand at the entrance, The alphas and Oikawa.

 

“Are you sure about this?” Oikawa asks, a strange glimmer in his eye as he watches over the pack. Kiyoko would describe it as _pride_ and _happiness_.

 

“Yes,”Tsukishima answers for her, and she feels so grateful to him, for everything he’s ever done for her.

 

“They will never take this away from us, not in a million years,” Kiyoko says. Oikawa nods, and disappears into the tunnel with a large bulky canvas bag, and she can hear his footsteps echo off the tunnel walls, his scent growing fainter as he travels further and further from the organic light. The three alphas stand watching their pack fight and wrestle and collapse into the grass, and it felt like coming home. About forty-five minutes later, as the sky is growing to be a navy blue, and sprinkles of lights are showing in the sky, promising darkness will never be again, Oikawa reappears trailing behind him a long string, _a fuse_. He looks to Kiyoko, and she nods. He pulls a match from his pocket and lights it, and they watch the fuse burn away. Lev ushers Oikawa away from the entrance, and Kiyoko and Tsukishima follow. They shoo the pack away from the entrance, and watch, waiting.

 

“Why are we standing here, Shi-chan?” Natsu asks, voice lilting with curiosity.

 

“So that we never have to be afraid of the dark again, Natsu,” Kiyoko answers, picking her up and settling the giggling pup on her hip. A few minutes pass, and a loud _boom_ sounds through the tunnel, and millions of pound of rock collapses, sealing the entrance into the surface, destroying any trace of the eight years of work Kiyoko did for her pack. She has no regrets.

 

“What’s done is done. But we better get moving just in case that attracted anything,” Tsukishima says. Lev hums in agreement, and they gather everyone and all the baggage, Lev taking the rear, Tsukishima watching over the middle, and Kiyoko leading from the front. They walk until the sky grows black, and a silver org hangs in the sky, casting light wherever they walked. Kiyoko stops at a clearing, and turns to Tsukishima for assurance. She gets a nod, and she sets down her things. She hears the triumphant cries of relief, and she begins to take out everyone’s sleeping bags, organizing them to minimize fights and arguments, and maximizing safety. She watches them all curl up in the warmth, but makes no move to get in her own sleeping bag.

 

“Kiyoko, go sleep, I’ll take watch, I’m the only out of the three of us not operating on no sleep,” Lev tells her, and she nearly hugs him, because she is _tired_ , and she wants to sleep, so she curls up in her sleeping bag, puts her glasses beside her, and watches the twinkling sky and decides everything might turn out okay.

 

♡                             ~                             ♡

 

“Kiyoko, wake up!” Tsukishima says, shaking her shoulder. She shoots up, scanning for danger, for anything that might attack her precious brood. The sky is the same as when she fell asleep, although the silver orb has moved, and she feels better than she has in years.

 

“What’s wrong?” she whispers, grabbing her glasses from beside her and shoving them onto her face.

 

“Nothing, it’s your turn for watch, Lev and me already took ours,” Tsukishima whispered.

 

“I’ll just watch until it’s lighter then, and then we need to get moving,” Kiyoko says. Tsukishima nods, and trials to his sleeping bag. He takes his own glasses off, and within minutes Kiyoko can hear his breathing steady. She blinks the sleep from her eyes and gets up, stretching. She leans against one of the tall plants that shoot out of the ground, the stalk rough against her palms. She looks up at the silver orb hanging from the sky, and begins to think. She thinks about her pack, worries about food, and clothes, and shelter. She thinks about the silver dots and the glowing orb and what those might be called. And just as she begins to relax, she tenses again. She smells something. Or...someone. Or maybe even several someones. She panics slightly, smelling the group of alphas draw steadily closer. She moves towards Lev, and Kicks him awake, and within seconds, he up and standing ready to defend the sleeping camp. She shakes Tsukishima too, and he gets up, putting his glasses on and drawing a knife. Her gaze only lingers over the weapon for a mere moment, before she turns to put herself between her pack and the approaching strangers. They come into sight, and there’s only five of them, large and much darker than she is. But she doesn’t care. If they want her pack, they’re gonna have to go through her.

 

The one leading the group is a large muscular man, with spiky black hair and reflective green eyes. There are two more after him, one who was muscular as well, with strange white and gray hair, and golden eyes that pin her where she stands. The other is more on the lanky side, like Tsukishima and Lev, with horrible black bed hair, and gold eyes. The two bringing up the rear were just as strange. The tallest was lean as well, wavy black hair and sleepy-eyed, but Kiyoko had a strong feeling he was no more tired than she. The last was a man with brown eyes rimmed in black and blonde hair with black stripes along the side of his head.

 

“Who are you?” the one in front said. It was said with a strange accent, and Kiyoko was barely able to make it out.

 

“Well that depends, are you trying to hurt my pack?” Kiyoko answers with a snarl.

 

“No, we don’t want to fight anyone, do we Kyoutani?” the man said pointedly to the man with the blonde striped hair who was snarling. He grunted, and quieted down. Kiyoko didn’t bring down her guard, and neither did Lev or Tsukishima.

 

“My name is Iwaizumi Hajime,” the man spoke again, pointing at the odd white and gray haired man,” And this is Bokuto Koutarou-”

 

“Kuroo Tetsurou-” The man with the bed hair.

 

“Matsukawa Issei-” The sleepy looking one.

 

“And Kyoutani Kentarou, my little brother.” The blonde stripe. Kiyoko looks at Tsukishima, and he lowers his knife a little.

 

“Kiyoko Shimizu,” Kiyoko says and then points respectively,” And this is Haiba Lev and Tsukishima Kei.”

 

“That’s a lot of omegas!” Bokuto shouts, and Kuroo kicks him.

 

“It is,” Kiyoko says tightly.

 

“Sorry about him,” Iwaizumi says,” We’re just surprised. We’re experiencing a shortage and only have three. Most of pack has never seen that many all at once before.” Kiyoko searches his eyes, looking for a lie, but finds none.

 

“Well, what do you want with us?” Kiyoko asks.

 

“You are in our territory, and other packs would have fought first asked questions later. I think we’re being rather nice actually,” Matsukawa speaks up. Iwaizumi glares at him, and he grins, not looking sorry at all.

 

“Where the hell did you guys come from? You’re kinda pale and talk funny,” Bokuto says bluntly.

 

“We don’t talk funny! You talk funny!” Lev says. Tsukishima glares at him and he flinches.

 

“Underground,” Kiyoko says,” Inside the mountain, there is a whole civilization. We wanted to leave, so I worked for eight years straight mining my way through.”

 

“Wow,” Iwaizumi whistles.

 

“You’re not lying, right?” Kyoutani says.

 

“Dude why would they be? It makes sense. They’re really pale, and look different, and they smell like dirt and metal. Also, they talk differently from anyone I’ve ever heard, and it would make sense if they’re dialect drifted away from ours,” Matsukawa said, confirming Kiyoko’s suspicions that he was indeed a lot more than he looked.

 

“Hm. Well, I’d have to talk to Daichi about it, but ya’ll are welcome to stay here for a little while. I guarantee you if you go out of our territory though, others won’t be as pleasant,” Iwaizumi says,” I run this pack along with Daichi, and we’ll revisit you in the morning. You are granted safety for tonight.” Kiyoko nods, and they leave.

 

“Well, what are we going to do?” Kiyoko looks over her shoulder to see Oikawa, Suga, and Akaashi up and wide awake. It was Oikawa who spoke.

 

“There’s only one thing to do. You all go back to sleep, and we wait this out,” Kiyoko said disgruntled.

 

“Like I’m going to be able to sleep after that,” Suga snorts.

 

“I dunno Suga, Iwaizumi was hot, I could dream about that,” Oikawa says.

 

“You thirsty bitch,” Akaashi mutters.

 

“Like you can say anything, you were eyeing Bokuto’s arms,” Suga said.

 

“They were very nice arms,” Akaashi responded.

 

“How long were you guys awake?” Kiyoko cut in.

 

“When you snarled,” Oikawa shrugged. Kiyoko sighed and readjusted her glasses.

 

“Well, I’m up, and honestly, I don’t think my instincts will let me go back to sleep, so,” Lev trailed off.

 

“Agreed,” Tsukishima grimaced.

 

“Look at that!” Suga gasped. They all looked to where he was pointing, seeing a light peek into the sky. They all watched as the sky turned oranges and pinks and purples, a startling canvas above their very heads. The source of the colors was a large yellow orb that rose and made spots dance in her eyes when she looked at it.

 

“Where did the silver orb go?” Kiyoko asked. She liked that one much better.

 

“I dunno. Maybe it was tired?” Oikawa said.

 

“That makes sense,” Akaashi says. They all laugh.

 

“Guys, what are we gonna eat?” Hinata says, sitting up and yawning.

 

“Typical Hinata, wakes up and his first thought is food!” Lev teases. Hinata glared at him.

 

“Shut up you sentient beanpole!” Hinata says.

 

“I’m surprised you know what that word is,” Tsukishima sneered. Hinata growls.

 

“Okay, okay, that’s enough!” Oikawa said.

 

“What are those?” Noya says, waking up from the noise and pointing at the tall, rough plants.

 

“Some sort of plant, I think,” Kiyoko answers.

 

“Plant?” Yahaba asks, shooting up out of his bed roll. Noya points and they walk over and begin studying them.

 

“I don’t care about those weird tall things! I want food!” Hinata whines.

 

“Food,” Natsu says groaning. Everyone bursts out laughing.

 

“Guys, stop being so _loud_ ,” Kunimi groans.

 

“Oh get up you lazy sack of bones,” Oikawa says,” And you two too, don’t think I don’t see you trying to burrow into there Hanamaki.”

 

“I’m up,” Ennoshita says.

 

“Good,” Suga says.

 

“Why does Kenma get to sleep?” Hanamaki complains.

 

“Because Kenma is sick, so leave him alone,” Kiyoko says.

 

“Aw, poor baby,” Oikawa coos,” I think we have some canned applesauce somewhere. Do you think he would be able to down that?”

 

“Yeah,” Akaashi says, sifting through the bags of food,” It’s right here, try to get him up to eat it.” He tosses Oikawa a can opener and the can, and Oikawa opens it and tosses the can opener back.

 

“Alright guys, come eat!” Suga calls. Everyone gets up and gravitates towards the food. They open near five cans and hand everyone spoons. They all dig in, passing around the cans.

 

“Is there anymore?” Hinata asks when it’s all gone.

 

“Nope, sorry kiddo,” Suga answers,” We’re trying to conserve food.” He whines, but gets up to roll around in the grass.

 

“Kenma woke up and ate about half the can, then fell back to sleep, so I’m gonna save the rest of this for him,” Oikawa says.

 

“Nice,” Akaashi says,” I saved some for you, so go look.” Oikawa nods his thanks, and grabs a spoon.

 

“Everybody! Circle up!” Lev calls, noticing Tsukishima’s signal. Tsukishima and Kiyoko never did like to yell. After everyone is more or less circled up, although it was really more of an oval, Kiyoko clapped her hands together.

 

“Not too long from now, strange people from the surface world are going to visit us. Keep in mind that we are trespassing on their territory, and we are told that others aren’t as nice. I don’t know if they’re lying, but it’s better to wait it out then take the chance that they’re not,” Kiyoko says.

 

“Please do not make a fool of yourselves,” Tsukishima begins,” You all are talented, and not to be reckoned with. Show them that!”

 

“Now that that is said, the meeting is adjourned. When they get here, I think we should line up and greet them, then run through names, how does that sound?” Kiyoko says. Everyone cheers, and they dipurse, Lev calling to make sure they don’t wander too far. About forty-five minutes later, Kiyoko gets a whiff of the group of alphas again. There are others with them this time, but Kiyoko can’t distinguish the scent. She sees the other alphas tense up, and Lev calls for them to line up. A minute later, Iwaizumi shows up with Bokuto, Kuroo, and four other unknown people, two alphas and two omegas. The stockier, short brown-haired, brown eyed alpha held the same air of authority as Iwaizumi, so Kiyoko assumed he was Daichi. The other alpha was blue-eyed, black haired, with an angry expression. One of the omegas was on the tall side, with darker skin and spots everywhere. He had dark green hair and large brown eyes. The other omega, Kiyoko had to look twice at. She was beautiful, large brown eyes, shoulder length golden hair that sparkled in the light. She was, well, _cute_ , in every sense of the word. Kiyoko paused before stepping forward.

 

“Well,” Kiyoko begins,” We thought we’d better introduce ourselves. I’m Kiyoko Shimizu, and I run this pack with Tsukishima Kei.” Tsukishima stepped forward and nodded,” I used to be a miner, and Tsukishima here was down in the mines around half the time right along-side me. The other half of the time, he was working down in the forge with his mother and brother, and is our resident blacksmith.”

 

“Yahoo! I’m Den Mother Oikawa Tooru, and I’m not sure if you have those up here, but basically I’m head omega, and I make all the quick decisions regarding and take in complaints from our, as you can see, quite large omegan population!” Oikawa gestures to the line,” I would be third in command! I was also the Lead Technician Engineer down in Kasai!”

 

“I’m Haiba Lev, the only other Alpha in our pack, and I worked as a shepherd managing livestock,” Lev said, stepping forward.

 

“I’m Sugawara Koushi, but call me Suga! I worked as a teacher, and I’m also Den Brother, ready to take Oikawa’s place just in case anything happens to him!” Suga says, following their lead.

 

“I’m Akaashi Keiji, and I worked as a Tailor,” Akaashi said, stepping forward gracefully.

 

“I’m Nishinoya Yuu! Call me Noya!” Nya said, dashing forward, eager to take his turn,” And I worked as a messenger!”

 

“I-I-m Hinata Shouyou, I didn’t technically work, what I did do, I’d rather not say,” Hinata stuttered, stumbling forward. He was always bad with first impressions. For a guy with a sunny disposition, he preferred to work in the shadows.

 

“I’m Hinata Natsu! Just call me Natsu! I’m Shouyou’s little sister! I didn’t work because I was too young!” She exclaimed, paddling forward.

 

“Hanamaki Takahiro, Oikawa over there calls me Makki, so you’re free to do that to. I worked as a construction worker, and I’m our resident jokester,” Hanamaki said, stepping forward with a little bounce in his heels.

 

“Kunimi Akira, I worked in the storerooms,” Kunimi muttered and shuffled forward.

 

“Hello, I’m Ennoshita Chikara, and I worked as a banker,” Ennoshita said, stepping forward.

 

"Yahaba Shigeru. I worked in the gardens," Yahaba says, stepping forward lightly.

 

“We have one more, but he’s sick right now, and sleeping, so we don’t want to disturb him!” Oikawa said,” But his name is Kozume Kenma and he’s an Inventor! I’ve actually worked with him before! It was very exciting!”

 

“Well, I must say, that’s not what I was expecting,” said the short brown haired man,” But I’m Sawamura Daichi. I have a question. Are all of you really cave people?”

 

“I mean by definition, yes. But not uncivilized,” Tsukishima said.

 

“Hm. Well, I have two healers, who are two of three of our omegas, and they could take a look at the sick one if you’d like. We brought our omegas to seem less threatening. We want this to be diplomacy, not bloodshed,” Iwaizumi said. Daichi nodded in agreement.

 

“U-uhm! I’m Y-yachi Hi-Hitoka! I-I’m a healer!” stuttered the golden haired girl. She was nervous, how cute. Kiyoko nodded at her.

 

“Yamaguchi Tadashi!,” said the green haired omega,” I am a healer as well!” Tsukishima nodded at him. Kiyoko looked to Oikawa, it was his call.

 

“I’ll take them to Kenma, I can handle them. Plus, they’re absolutely adorable!” Oikawa cooed, and they both stuttered at him. Oikawa led them away, and Daichi spoke up.

 

“This rain cloud back here is Kageyama Tobio by the way. He’s our best hunter, and the only one insane enough to be awake voluntarily at this hour,” He said, pointing at the angry man,” Don’t mind him, he’s actually not all that bad, just extremely awkward.” Kageyama scowled even more and huffed at one of the tall plants.

 

“I have a question!” Noya said.

 

“Go for it…?” Iwaizumi said uncertainly.

 

“What is that?” Noya pointed to a tall plant.

 

“Uhm, a tree,” Iwaizumi said slowly.

 

“A tree!” They all looked over at them, talking at once.

 

“Silence! Please!” Lev said. Kiyoko shot him a grateful look.

 

“What is the dome above us called? And the two orbs? The silver and the yellow one? And the white dots as well,” Kiyoko asked.

 

“Holy shit, you guys are really from underground,” Kuroo said in disbelief.

 

“That’s what we’ve been saying, you dolt,” Tsukishima snaps.

 

“Uhm okay,” Daichi says,” The white dots are stars I think, and the dome above us is called the sky.”  
  
“The sky?” Hinata quips.

 

“That’s right! And the yellow orb is the sun! It makes everything have life! Everywhere!” Bokuto shouts,” And the silver one is the moon! It lights our way through the darkest of times! Sometimes it goes away, but it always comes back!”  There are gasps.

 

“Do the stars go away?” Akaashi asks.

 

“Nope! But they do change sometimes, depending on how everything is positioned!” Bokuto answers.

 

“Okay, that’s enough! Anymore and you are going to confuse them,” Iwaizumi snaps.

“Aw, did I miss an impromptu learning lesson?” Oikawa pouts.

 

“I’ll fill you in later,” Akaashi says.

 

“Okay! Anyway, it looks like Kenma has a really bad flu! He need lots of rest and to only give him soft foods!” Oikawa chirps. Suga and Akaashi nod, and Yamaguchi and Yachi appear.

 

“I would feel better if we could take him with us to watch over him, but that’s probably out of the question,” Yamaguchi reports.

 

“Most likely,” Iwaizumi chuckles.

 

“Definitely not,” Tsukishima says. Daichi gestures as if to say ‘ _there, you see?_ ’ and Kiyoko clears her throat.

 

“So, what’s going on?” she asks,” I’d hate to ask, but do you think you can help us?” Iwaizumi and Daichi look at each other.

 

“Discussion and Vote?” Iwaizumi asks.

 

“Seems like the best option to me, and we could definitely benefit. So could they, honestly. Even if they weren’t completely helpless,” Daichi says.

 

“Even so, we best make sure with the pack,” Iwaizumi responds.

 

“Agreed.”

 

“Okay, so here the deal,” Iwaizumi says,” We like to include our pack on the big decisions. We want to vote on it, and we’ll have our answer by midday. Sound good?”

 

“That’s fine,” Tsukishima says.

 

“How about I leave Kuroo, Bokuto, and Kageyama here for extra protection? There's a lot of territories around here that would definitely kill all three of you for this many omegas,” Daichi says.

 

“Sweet Savior, seriously?” Lev asked. They all nodded very grimly.

 

“We lost one back because we were trying to protect Yamaguchi,” Kuroo says. Yamaguchi shuffles.

 

“Damn,” Hanamaki mutters. Daichi and Iwaizumi disappear with Yachi and Yamaguchi in tow among the tall- the trees.

 

“Well!” Bokuto says rubbing his hand together,” who wants to race me?”

 

“Me!”

 

♡                             ~                             ♡

 

When the sun was right above their heads (afternoon, Kuroo called it), Iwaizumi and Daichi returned. Bokuto and Kuroo had spent the time explaining certain things, or playing around with the more energetic omegas in the group (although Kuroo spotted Kenma nestled among some trees and steered them all clear him, winning approval from Oikawa). Kageyama spent the time awkwardly standing to one side, and, at the Hinata siblings request (read:pressuring), giving piggyback rides.

 

“We have our answer!” Daichi called.

 

“Well, then what is it?” Tsukishima said.

 

“We have a proposition. We’ll help you, _if_ you join our pack. You two won’t lose any authority, and me Daichi have agreed we can act like a council,” Iwaizumi said,” And it’s not like Oikawa will lose any either, since we don’t have a Den Mother.”

 

“Can we talk about it?” Kiyoko inquires.

 

“Sure, go ahead. We understand, it’s a really big decision,” Daichi agrees. Kiyoko thanks him, and looks at Lev expectantly.

 

“Guys! Circle up!” Lev yells, and everyone moves to the middle of the clearing, with Kuroo, Bokuto, and Kageyama joining Daichi and Iwaizumi. When everyone settles, Kiyoko takes a deep breath and adjusts her glasses.

 

“Okay, so we have a lot of decisions to make, and I want to include you in on them. We can take a vote. The pack that lives here is offering to help us, but we have to merge our packs together. Think about it for a moment, and discuss. We’ll be voting in a few minutes,” Kiyoko says.

 

“Where did the discuss thing come from?” Tsukishima asked.

 

“They gave me the idea. You know very well that it doesn’t go very well if you put someone on the spot like that,” Kiyoko answers. Tsukishima nods.

 

“Guys, we should vote now so they won’t be swayed into having our opinions,” Lev says.

 

“Whoa, that was actually an intelligent remark! Is there an actual brain in there after all?” Tsukishima says in astonishment.

 

“Fucking Jackass,” Lev glares,” I vote yes. I like these guys, and honestly we have no idea what the fuck we’re doing.”

 

“I agree,” Kiyoko says ruefully,” Albeit less colorful language.” Lev grins sheepishly. Tsukishima is silent for a moment.

 

“Fine. I agree as well. We don’t have what it takes to protect all of them, and something tells me they aren’t lying about the other territories being not as nice,” Tsukishima says. Kiyoko nods.

 

“I’ll do it,” Tsukishima says after five minutes had passed, and the serious discussions were being replaced with idle chatter.

 

“Okay! So listen up!” Tsukishima says, and the pack falls silent,” The vote is starting! Everyone in favor of joining them raise your hand!” The majority of them, besides Kunimi, Ennoshita, the more cynical types, raise their hand.

 

“We should give Kenma a vote! It’s not fair he’s being left out!” Hinata shouts.

 

“I’ll go,” Oikawa sighs. The whole pack watches him cross to where Kenma lay, and kneel. They watch him there for a few moments before he gets back up and rejoins the group.

 

“He votes yes,” Oikawa says,” Because he likes the way bed hair looks like a cat.” Laughter rises, and Kiyoko gives a small smile.

 

“Well, that’s the majority. Stay here,” Tsukishima says, and along with Kiyoko, jogs to the waiting party.

 

“What’s the verdict?” Iwaizumi says.

 

“We’ll do it,” Kiyoko sighs.

 

“Great! Let's get moving then!” Bokuto says.

 

♡                             ~                             ♡

 

Kiyoko counts heads before they move into camp. She relaxes when she’s assured everyone is there, alive and safe. Although maybe not well, as in the case of Kenma.

 

“Alright, it’s right through here,” Daichi says, and Kiyoko follows him into a small natural tree sided valley, high rock twenty foot tall mountain-like formations circling around the large camp, with a waterfall cascading into a steep pool at one end. Trees littered the camp, along with large to small sized houses made out of various materials.

 

“Uwoh! It’s so pretty!” exclaims Hinata.

 

“Uhn!” agrees Natsu. They all look around remarking the beauty of the scene.

 

“Alright, alright that’s enough. Stay here while we find out what we’re doing!” Kiyoko tells the group. Tsukishima and Oikawa follow her, and she taps on Daichi’s shoulder, who was busy talking to A stocky, skittish looking alpha.

“Ah! Kiyoko! This is Azumane Asahi, he prefers to be called by Asahi. He’s our building expert, and Hanamaki will probably end up working with him. I was just talking to him about your living arrangements!” Daichi says,” And Iwaizumi is over there checking the food stores.”

 

“We have about a week’s worth of canned food with us,” Kiyoko says. Both alphas blink at her blankly.

 

“What’s canned food?” Asahi asks. Oikawa starts laughing.

 

“It’s food...in...a can,” Kiyoko struggles,” You know what, I’ll show you later.” Oikawa’s still laughing.

 

“Alright then,” Daichi says.

 

“Uhm, we have a small groove that has a thick canopy for shelter for now, while we can get around to your houses,” Asahi says, changing the topic.

 

“That’s fine for everyone else, but I need an actual home I can put Kenma in,” Oikawa says, finally getting a hold on himself,” And I don’t feel comfortable putting him in a random house with complete strangers either.”

 

“That;s understandable, I’ll poke around to see if anybody has extra space, and Kenma and another can go there, how does that sound?” Daichi says.

 

“Good, but can I have two people go with him? I’ll have Suga go, because I need to stay with the others, obviously, and Kunimi since he’s lazy anyway and Kenma would appreciate someone quiet,” Oikawa said.

 

“It’ll probably be a tight fit, but I could make it work,” Daichi answers. Oikawa huffs in satisfaction.

 

“Hey Kuroo!” Daichi calls.

 

“What?” Kuroo says, jogging over.

 

“You have an extra bed right?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Let Kenma and company use it, he sick and shouldn’t be out in the open.”

 

“That sounds fine. Do you want me to do that now, or?”

 

“Now please! The sooner the better!” Oikawa says.

 

“Lead the way,” Kuroo gestures. They walk towards the group. Kiyoko turns back to Asahi.

 

“Is it too much trouble to find some extra blankets somewhere? Some of them are prone to getting cold easily, and Natsu is really young. I don’t think she would survive sickness right now,” Kiyoko says worriedly.

 

“M-most likely! You could ask Yaku! He has all the nesting material for the omegas!” Asahi says nervously. Kiyoko smiles in thanks.

 

“Tsukishima, I’ll go the nesting material while you go get them settled okay?” Kiyoko says. Tsukishima nods, and heads in the direction of the group of omegas with Asahi in tow.

 

“I’ll have Kindaichi bring you there, I need to go check on the stores with Iwaizumi,” Daichi says absentmindedly,” Kindaichi! Get your ass over here!”

 

“Y-Yes sir!” Kindaichi jogs over. He’s a tall boy, with black hair resembling a radish, and brown eyes.

“Take Kiyoko here to Yaku, she needs blankets,” Daichi says, and walks off, leaving Kiyoko with the radish.

 

“Follow me!” the radish says earnestly, looking exceedingly excited to be given a job. Kiyoko follows him, and they end up at a wooden home next the the waterfall. Kindaichi knocks on the door, and a small sandy brown haired omega answers it.

 

“Already? I didn’t expect to see you all so soon, or I would have come out to greet you and help,” Yaku says, his brown eyes twinkling with a rough sort of kindness,” I expect Hitoka and Tadashi are already there. I’m Yaku Morisuke, what do you need?”

 

“Some blankets for the young and omegas please,” Kiyoko answers.

 

“That I can help you with,” Yaku says, gesturing her inside,” Basically, I’m the cloth maker, and I make anywhere from leather to silk to cotton, even though I’m not very good at sewing, and everyone else is rather subpar, but we make it by. The sheep never listen to me though.”

 

“I have people who can help,” Kiyoko says,” I have an omega, Akaashi, he is a tailor, and is very good at what he does.”

“I suppose he’ll be seeing a lot of me then!” Yaku says, reaching into a bin and stuff both her and Kindaichi’s arms full of blankets.

 

“I suppose. Also, one of the two other alphas besides myself is a shepard, actually,” Kiyoko says, glasses knocked slightly askew from the onslaught of blankets. Yaku stands on his tiptoes to adjust them for her, and she murmurs her thanks.

 

“That’s great news,” Yaku said,” I’m tired of chasing after those damned livestock. Now I have somebody to do it for me! I can’t wait to put him to work!” Kiyoko laughs. She likes this one.

 

“Well, let’s go then, that should be enough. How many do you have again?” Yaku asks.

 

“Ten omegas and one unpresented,” Kiyoko tells him.  
  
“TEN WHOLE OMEGAS?! WHAT THE HELL?!” Yaku shouts. Kiyoko winces.

 

“Sorry! It’s just, that’s insane! We have thirteen now! Whoa! Thirteen omegas!” Yaku says in disbelief,” We’re gonna need more blankets.”

 

♡                             ~                             ♡

 

“Oh~! That’s a lot of blankets! I take it you’re the infamous Yaku-san?” Oikawa says.

 

“Yaku Morisuke, at your service,” Yaku nods.

 

“Thank you so much Mori-chan! Just set them down over there you two,” Oikawa adds, pointing at a lump of sleeping bags. Kiyoko deposits her load on top, and the radish does the same.

 

“Well I have to go! It was nice meeting you!” the radish tells her, and speeds off. He was a very nice radish person.

 

“Oh Shi-chan! Can you give us a hand over here?” Oikawa calls. Kiyoko turns to see Yachi with her hands full of Kenma’s bags.

 

“I was sent here to grab his stuff! We thought it would help him feel better!” Yachi squeaked.

 

“That sounds great, thank you,” Kiyoko said, trying not to stare too hard or speak to loud, lest she scare off the beautiful, skittish creature. She looked at Oikawa only to find him smirking knowingly.

 

“Weeeell, looks like she could use a hand! I volunteer Shi-chan to help her out!” Oikawa laughs, shoving Kiyoko towards the other girl.

 

“I agree?” Yaku says uncertainly, and Kiyoko takes all but one bag, glaring at the brunette over her shoulder.

 

“They’d make a good match!” Oikawa stage whispers. Yachi squeaks, and Kiyoko knows she’s heard him.

 

“Oh is that what we’re doing?” Yaku whispers back. Kiyoko can feel him rolling his eyes from here.

 

“Uhm! I’m sorry! Sorry about that!” Yachi says.

 

“Sorry about what? You did nothing wrong. You’re perfect. If anything, I should be sorry,” Kiyoko reassures her. Yachi freezes, and Kiyoko has to stop walking and turn around to make sure she’s alright.

 

“Yachi?” Kiyoko says, cocking her head slightly,” Are you alright? You look kind of red! Oh no! Do you have a fever?”

 

“I-I-Uh-Uhm-Tha-The-The house! W-we should go to th-the house!” Yachi stutters.

 

“Are you sure you’re okay? I could carry you if you’re feeling faint,” Kiyoko tells her. It was the finishing blow. Yachi’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, and Kiyoko dropped everything to catch her limp form. She picked her up princess style, grabbed all the bags, and went to the house it looked like they were heading towards. She knocks on the door with her knee, and a few moments later Kuro appears.

 

“Yachi I told- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?” Kuroo shouts.

 

“She fainted!” Kiyoko says in distress. Kuroo grabs her from her arms, and she feels kind of empty, because she’s not holding her anymore, and she doesn’t understand why that matters. She follow Kuroo into a bedroom, where he deposits the omega. Kiyoko fans her with a book from Kenma’s bags.

 

“Stay here with her while I go get some water. She has been running around a lot today, so she must be dehydrated,” Kuroo says, grabbing the bags,” I’ll give these to Suga.” Kiyoko nods, and a few moments after he leaves, Suga enters the room.

 

“What happened!” he says, rushing to the bedside.

 

“S-she fainted!” Kiyoko said.

 

“Tell me how!” Suga demands.

 

“Uhm, well, I-She was looking kind of red and I asked her if she had a fever, and that I could carry her if she wasn’t feeling okay, and she just! Fainted! Right there! I was terrified!” Kiyoko says.

 

“Kiyoko darling,” Suga says slowly,” Did you really offer to carry her?”

 

“I wanted to make sure she was okay!”

 

“Yes, but why? Think about that for a moment. How it might seem to an omega from an alpha?”

 

“I don’t-” and then it dawned on her.

 

“Oh!” she fretted,” Oh my savior! This is my fault! How could I?”

 

“Kiyoko, calm down,” Suga told her soothingly.

 

“How can I calm down? I made this poor girl fall over faint! She could have been seriously hurt! And she was carrying something heavy!” Kiyoko said angrily,” From now on, I’m staying away! She’s better off!” And with that, she got up and dashed from the room, passing Kuroo on the way.

 

“What’s with her?” she heard Kuroo ask.

 

“It’s a long story,” Suga answered.

 

“I got time.”

  
  
♡                             ~                             ♡


	2. Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You...you cried?” Suga says, and he’s looking at him like he’s grown another head again, and Oikawa is getting really tired of people looking at him like that. Maybe he’s just tired in general. Yeah that’s it. 
> 
>  
> 
> #Oikawaisrelateable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

 

 

“Kiyoko, what’s wrong?” Oikawa asked. He watched her grimace.

 

“Nothing,” she said,” Are all the omegas settled?” Oikawa nodded, watching her carefully. She squirmed slightly under his scrutinization. He judged that something was indeed wrong, by her limp body language and tense fists, but he knew that she would come to him in her own time, so he didn’t say anything.

 

“Almost, yes. I’ve got it from here,” he answered,” I’m going to invite Mori-chan, Hito-chan, and Tada-chan into my nest.”

 

“Oh? Good for you,” Kiyoko answered,” Now, I’ve got to go see what’s happening with jobs. I’ve already found something for both Akaashi and Lev to do, Hanamaki as well.”

 

“Really? That’s wonderful! I’m glad that the transition is already going smoothly!” Oikawa chirped. Maybe if he encouraged her, she would feel better. It worked. He watched her body relax and her lips curl into a smile.

 

“Yes. I was afraid at first, but everything is going well. Once I find something to do for everyone, we’ll have a meeting to assign jobs,” Kiyoko said,” In the meantime, do you think you can find something to do to settle everyone’s nerves? They all seem to be high-strung, especially the more quiet or skittish omegas.”

 

“I was planning to do a Grooming Day actually,” Oikawa responded,” Maybe have Keiji-chan play something. A little party. Then I could watch everyone mingle.”  


“Leave it to you to not only already have a plan,” Akaashi said, coming up from behind them,” But an ulterior motive as well.”

 

“I never have ulterior motives!” Oikawa pouted,” And I don’t now!”  


“Really. You’re telling me, that you are _not_ going to use their anxiety as an excuse to try to match people up?” Akaashi said.

 

“You’re so mean Keiji-chan!” Oikawa stomped.

 

“But you didn’t deny it,” Akaashi answered.

 

“Well, I’ll be going then,” Kiyoko excused herself. Akaashi nodded at her, Oikawa waved his goodbye.

 

“I’m going to find those other omegas, you want to come with?” Oikawa wondered.

 

“Alright,” Akaashi shrugged. Oikawa smiled and began to walk in the direction where someone told him Yaku’s home was. Tall kid, hair looked like a radish. They walked to a good sized hut next to the waterfall and knocked. Yamaguchi opened the door.

 

“Ah! Oikawa-san, Akaashi-san, hello! Come in!” Yamaguchi said. Oikawa waved a hand.

 

“None of that, now, call me Tooru, Tada-chan,” Oikawa said with a smile.

 

“Akaashi is fine,” Akaashi says, nodding his head.

 

“Ah! Alright then!” Yamaguchi says.

 

“Tadashi? Who was at the door?” Yaku calls.

 

“Tooru and Akaashi!” Yamaguchi calls back. A few moments later, and a couple of curses, Yaku appears, tangled in some red string.

 

“Can I get some help?” he asks, And all three of them surge forward to help him.

 

“How in the world did you get yourself caught this badly?” Akaashi asks.

 

“To be honest, I have no idea,” Yaku groans,” I’m having to take stock of everything on Daichi and Iwaizumi’s orders. I’m having Yamaguchi help, but…”

 

“I’ll help you, I don’t mind, I work a lot with cloth anyway,” Akaashi says.

 

“Wait seriously? Are you Akaashi? The tailor?” Yaku asks.

 

“Yep! He was the best tailor in the whole of the underground! The mayor himself bought his suits!” Oikawa bragged.

 

“Shut up,” Akaashi deadpanned.

 

“You’re so mean, Keiji-chan!” Oikawa tsked,” Anyway I wanted to ask you two something.”

 

“Of course, what do you need?” Yaku says,” I’m going to be honest here, all I have is cloth.”

 

“No, no, I just-well I was wondering if you would like to join my nest?” Oikawa asked.

 

“Your what?” Yamaguchi asked.

 

“It means, like the group of omegas he manages,” Akaashi explained,” He’s our Den Mother.”

 

“Oh! I remember! My grandmother was a den mother, actually! Back when there was enough omegas to do that,” Yaku said.

 

“We actually had an abundance of omegas and a shortage of alphas in the underground,” Oikawa piped up.

 

“Really? No way!” Yaku said.

 

“Uh huh! Alphas only made up a fifth of the population. The other fifth was betas, and three fifths of it omegas!” Oikawa exclaimed.

 

“We have two betas! Narita and Kinoshita!” Yamaguchi said.

 

“They’re in a relationship, actually,” Yaku said. Interesting. Oikawa thought betas were not allowed to mate with opposite gender. Oikawa took a small leather-bound book out of his pocket, and wrote the new information down.

 

“What is that?” Yaku asked.

 

“My journal,” Oikawa said shortly,” Would you like to join my nest? It’s nice that I don’t have to explain what I do since you already know! Can you spread the word to Hito-chan as well?”

 

“I don’t!” Yamaguchi protested.

 

“I’ll tell you later, but I promise it’s a good thing, especially if he’s taking his job this seriously,” Yaku said. Oikawa smiled at him. He liked this one.

 

“I’ll join you, I always thought that I liked how close all the omegas were in my grandma’s nest,” Yaku said.

 

“Well, if Yaku joins, I’ll join too!” Yamaguchi said.

 

“That’s great! Two down, one to go!” Oikawa said cheerfully.

 

“That’s a nice smile,” Akaashi remarked.

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Oikawa whined.

 

“Nothing, it’s just a smile with no ulterior motives,” Akaashi said. Oikawa groaned.

 

“Well, that invitation extends to Hito-chan too, I trust you to inform her! I’ll check up on you two later!” Oikawa said.

 

“Of course! Have a good day, Oikawa,” Yaku said.

 

“Please, call me Tooru!” Oikawa said,” Akaashi, you’re staying here and helping, right?” With Akaashi’s nod, he left the home alone, and left towards Kuroo’s home to check on Kenma’s condition. When he reached the home, the door was already being opened by Bokuto.

 

“Oh, hi!” Bokuto exclaimed.

 

“Hello!” Oikawa said, plastering a smile on his face.

 

“How are you?” Bokuto yelled.

 

“I’m doing fine,” Oikawa said, refusing to flinch at his boisterous voice. Bokuto left as quickly as he appeared.

 

“Sorry about him,” Kuroo said,” He’s just excited to have so many new people around. He’s actually pretty cool to be around once you get past all the yelling.” Oikawa shrugged. He had plenty of experience with those types of people. He was just like a large alpha Hinata or a Noya on steroids. He took out his book and wrote that down. When he saw Kuroo watching, he put his book away.

 

“So, how is Kenma?” Oikawa asked.

 

“Getting better actually,” Kuroo shrugged. Oikawa smiled. His little Kenma was getting better! Kuroo gestured for him to come in, and Oikawa followed him into the house.

 

“Kuroo, thank you for having me!” Yachi said, zooming out of one the bedrooms,” I’m sorry for inconveniencing you!” Kuroo shook his head.

 

“You weren’t inconveniencing me, you needed help, and I was happy to comply,” Kuroo shook his head,” Are feeling better?” Yachi nodded.

 

“What happened Hito-chan?” Oikawa worried, instincts kicking in.

 

“I fainted!” Yachi exclaimed.

 

“Oh my! Are you alright?” he fretted. At her affirmation, he relaxed.

 

“I can feel you fretting from here Oiks, turn it down!” Suga joked.

 

“I can’t help it Kou-chan! You of all people should understand that!” Oikawa pouted.

 

“I know, I know,” Suga chuckled.

 

“Uhm, well he’s here to see Kenma,” Kuroo said, so I’ll see Yachi out.”

 

“Hito-chan!” Oikawa called.

 

“Yes?” Yachi jumped.

 

“Go talk to Mori-chan okay?” Oikawa said.

 

“Yaku,” Suga clarified. With her nod, he turned away and stalked into the bedroom. Kunimi was sitting up on the bed, resting against several pillows, and Kenma was lying on his lap.

 

“Kenma?” Oikawa called. At the sound of his voice, Kenma looked up. He was indeed looking much better, but it made Oikawa relax to see it for himself. His eyes were less bloodshot, and his nose was looking less red.

 

“How are you?” Oikawa said softly, sitting next to the omegas on the bed. Kenma purred, voice still a little hoarse. Oikawa smiled.

 

“I’m glad you’re doing better, my pup,” Oikawa chuckled, leaning over to run his fingers through the omegas hair. Kunimi pouted. Oikawa laughed at his obvious jealousy, and began to pet him as well. They both purred, and he heard a sigh from the doorway. He looked over to see a fond Suga, and a Kuroo who very much felt like he was intruding. Oikawa gestured for Suga to take his place, ignoring the small stab in his heart when the two omegas whined at the ceasing of his petting. Suga took his place, and Oikawa motioned for Kuroo to join him in the kitchen.

 

“I really can’t thank you enough,” Oikawa said.

 

“Then don’t thank me, I enjoy taking care of people, it’s why I have an extra bedroom in the first place,” Kuroo shrugged,” Plus, Kenma reminds me of a kitten I had when I was young, so I don’t mind.” Oikawa cocked his head at the fond smile on Kuroo’s face.

 

“You are very kind,” Oikawa murmured, mind racing.

 

“What can I say?” Kuroo laughed,” I’m always this kind.”

 

“Say Kuroo,” Oikawa said, eyes sharpening,” What are you looking for in a partner?” Kuroo blinked in confusion.

 

“It’s my job to help pair omegas up,” Oikawa explained.

 

“Oh,” Kuroo said,” Well, definitely someone I can take care of. Someone quiet, most likely, to combat my loudness. But like, sassy too? Mostly, I just want someone who could understand me, ya know? Like, I don’t even have to say anything. They just know.” Oikawa nodded.

 

“I get it,” Oikawa said. He’s perfect.

 

“Stay here, okay?” Oikawa said, walking to bedroom.

 

“Alright?” Kuroo said uncertainly. Oikawa opened the door and shut it behind him. At his abrupt entry, all three omegas had been startled. He smiled apologetically, and sat on the edge of the bed.

 

“Kenma darling? Can you sit up for a moment?” Oikawa said. Kenma looked confused but did as he asked.

 

“What do you think of Kuroo? Be honest,” Oikawa said.

 

“...I like his smile,” Kenma blushes. Oikawa smiled.

 

“Well, what of his personality?” he questioned.

 

“Oikawa, what is this about?” Suga asked. Oikawa hushes him with a look.

 

“Uhm, I...he’s nice. Funny. Good cook,” Kenma said absentmindedly.

 

“Hm,” Oikawa said. He pulled out his book and looked through his pages on Kenma, It was all there.

 

“Well, how would you feel if I extended a courtship offer to him for you?” Oikawa said. The shock in the room was nearly palpable.

 

“Oikawa? Are you sure? It’s a little soon don’t you think? And what about Kenma’s panic attacks?” Suga said worriedly.

 

“Something tells me it won’t be a problem. I know what I’m doing. I wouldn’t have said anything if I didn’t think they would be perfect for each other,” Oikawa says.

 

“If Oikawa thinks they would be a good match, then they’re a good match,” Kunimi says simply,” He’s been researching us for nearly a decade. He knows us better than we know ourselves. I for one, trust his decision.” Oikawa reached over and fluffed his hair.

 

“I love you too Aki-chan,” Oikawa said warmly.

 

“Yes,” Kenma said suddenly.

 

“What?” Suga said. Kenma drew the blankets around him so you couldn’t see anything but his head, face curtained by his hair.

 

“ _If_ he’s okay with my anxiety,” Kenma said. Oikawa nodded.

 

“I can respect that,” he said, and left the bedroom in a hurry.

 

“Tetsu-chan?” Oikawa called. Kuroo looked up from his seat at the kitchen table and furrowed his brow at the ridiculous nickname. Oikawa sat across from him.

 

“What do you know about panic attacks?” Oikawa asked, getting right down to business.

 

“What are those?” Kuroo aksed.

 

“Okay…” Okay said, rubbing his temples,” It kind of when someone is triggered by something and just...breaks down. They can’t really breathe, and their chest feels heavy, like there’s a weight on there chest and the whole world sort spins or blacks out. By that’s just from my own personal experience. It varies from person to person.” Oikawa looked at Kuroo who was looking at him like he’d just grown a second head, and the head was speaking a completely different language. Had it really been that strange?

 

“Is that what that is?” Kuroo says finally.

 

“I’m sorry?”

 

“Panic Attacks? That’s the name for it?”

 

“Uhm, yes?”

 

“...I’ve been having those for years. Notice my house is a lot bigger and has taller ceilings? I have claustrophobia. Kageyama, Asahi, Yamaguchi, and Bokuto get them too, but Bo’s are a little different.”

 

“Oh. Well that makes things easier.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Hold on for _one_ second, okay?” Oikawa said, getting up from the table and dashing back into the bedroom. He ignores his sigh.

 

“Kenma!” Oikawa says after closing the door,” Guess what?”

 

“W-what?” he said looking at him through his hair.

 

“He says he’s been having them for years! He didn’t know what they were called but apparently quite a few alphas here have them, as well as Tada-chan!” Oikawa explains.

 

“Seriously?” Kunimi says.

 

“Yep! And he has claustrophobia! That why he gets them!” Oikawa exclaims.

 

“Well there’s your answer!” Suga says.

 

“I’m even more sure now, honestly,” Oikawa says.

 

“Then…” Kenma struggles. Oikawa waits patiently. He’ll come around.

 

“Okay,” He says finally, and Oikawa cheers.

 

“Good luck,” Suga says.

 

“Pssht, I got this,” Oikawa says.

 

“Cocky much?” Kunimi says.

 

“I love you too Aki-chan,” Oikawa singsongs, leaving the bedroom. When he re-enters the kitchen, Kuroo doesn’t even bother looking up, and Oikawa re-seats himself.

 

“So,” Oikawa begins.

 

“So,” Kuroo repeats,” What’s this all about?”

 

“I have an offer for you.”

 

“...An offer?”

 

“Mn. I think I know who would be a good match for you. No-the perfect match for you, really. But I want to let you know something.”

 

“What?”

 

Oikawa leans forward,” This is extremely hard for me to do. And if I find out if you do accept them, and they aren’t happy, I’m going after _your_ ass, got that?”

 

“Yep,” Kuroo gulps.

 

“Okay then. So, I’m offering a courtship over Kenma.”

 

“K-Kenma?” Kuroo stuttered, shocked.

 

“I’ll give you five minutes to think it over!” Oikawa says cheerfully, and exits the kitchen. He goes into the bedroom and all three omegas are looking at him expectantly.

 

“I’m giving him five minutes to think it over,” Oikawa sighs. All three of their shoulders sag.

 

“Tch,” Kunimi says. Oikawa shakes his head at him and sits on the edge of the bed. There’s tense silence for a minute before Kenma speaks.

 

“Do you think…?” He trails off.

 

“I know he’s going to accept,” Oikawa said.

 

“How?” Suga asked.

 

“Call it a mother’s intuition,” Oikawa says after a moment. A few more heavy minutes pass, and Oikawa gets up and silently leaves the bedroom. When he enters the kitchen, Kuroo is sitting on the table, waiting for him.

 

“When you asked about the panic attacks, were you hinting that Kenma had them?” Kuroo asks before Oikawa can say anything.

 

“Yes,” Oikawa says after a moment of terse silence. Kuroo nods, almost to himself.

 

“I accept.”

 

“Wonderful!” Oikawa says, clapping his hands together,” Give me a second, and I’ll call you in there. Then I’m going to take you aside to go over our rules of courtship, since they might be different, okay?” Kuroo nods, and Oikawa goes into the bedroom. Before he opens the door, he carefully arranges his face into an unreadable expression. They all look up when he walks in the door, waiting with baited breath, and Kenma frowns. Oikawa fiddles with his shirt a little for effect, and he sees Kenma’s lip wobble. Then he smiles.

 

“He said yes.” The effect of the simple sentence was immediate. Suga jumped up and cheered, Kunimi’s mouth dropped, and Kenma’s mouth curled into the widest, happiest smile Oikawa had ever seen on his face.

 

“Oh my god! Kenma! Congratz! I can’t believe you’re the first of us to go! It kind of makes me sad!” Suga said, laughing and crying. Kenma started crying too, and pretty soon, they were one giant, crying, incoherent mess. Oikawa finally stood up and wiped his tears away.

 

“I’ll be back, with Kuroo,” he said.

 

“Eek!” Suga said, falling off the bed. Kenma laughed. Oikawa left finding Kuroo standing there looking sort of panicky.

 

“Why were you guys crying?” Kuroo asks him, and Oikawa has to keep himself from laughing at the poor man.

 

“Happy tears. He’s the first to be matched, you know?”

 

“Oh.” Kuroo visibly relaxes.

 

“So, what are your rules of courting?” Oikawa says.

 

“Uhm, well not much besides no sex til mating, and we have to wait over six months.”  
  
“Oh, I like that better, ours is only three. Six months it is.”   


“Okay,” Kuroo shrugs. Oikawa gestures for the alpha to follow him, and they go into the bedroom. Suga has picked himself up off the floor and is pacing, and Kunimi is tying back all of Kenma’s hair except for the bangs.

 

“Hi,” Kuroo says.

 

“Hi,” Kenma says. They both smile shyly and Oikawa shoos Kunimi and Suga out of the room.

 

“I’d say this is a pretty productive day, all in all. Oh, and Tomorrow is a grooming Day, so spread the word,” Oikawa says,” I’ve got to check on the others.”

 

“Have Noya do it,” Kunimi says, and Suga rolls his eyes. Kuroo walks out of the bedroom and closes the door behind him.

 

“That was nerve-wracking,” he says, and looks up to find all three of them staring at him. He scoots back a little, and points at the door.

 

“I’m, uh, I’m gonna go tell Bo,” he mutters,” ‘Scuze me…” He dashes out the door and Suga laughs.

 

“Oh, he’s scared of us! I like that!” Suga laughs.

 

“What the hell did you say to him Tooru?” Kunimi mutters.

 

“Oh you know, the usual,” Oikawa shrugs.

 

“Death threats with a smile?” Suga says, raising an eyebrow. Oikawa shrugs again, and Kunimi shakes his head.

 

“Well, I’m going, see you later,” Oikawa says, walking out the door.

 

“‘Kay,” Suga says. Once he gets into the sunshine

, he starts walking towards the grove. There, Hinata, Noya, Natsu, Ennoshita, Yahaba, and Yamaguchi are doing something or other. Hinata and Natsu (mostly Natsu) are getting (Begrudgingly) piggyback rides from Kageyama again. Noya was climbing a tree at Yahaba’s instructions. Yamaguchi is speaking with Ennoshita about something in a book he’s holding. Oikawa frowns at emptiness. Where is Hanamaki? Just as he thinks this, he smells Tsukishima enter the area from behind him.

 

“You want to know where Hanamaki is,” Tsukishima tells him. It’s not a question, he knows him better than that by now.

 

“Well, he’s just been put to work building with Asahi, Matsukawa, and a few others.”

 

“Who?” He wants to know specifically.

 

“Uhm, Bokuto, Tanaka, and Kyoutani I think.”  
  
“Point. I want to go meet Tanaka. I haven’t seen him yet.”

 

“Uhm, well over there, I think?” Oikawa begins to walk briskly in the direction that he points. We he gets there, Kuroo is hugging Bokuto and everyone else is looking rather shocked. Well, guess he told them then.

 

“Dude are you SERIOUS?” an alpha with a shaven head and no shirt on says,” I haven’t even _met_ any of them yet, and you’re already courting one?”

 

“Jealousy doesn’t suit you Tanaka,” Matsukawa says. Ah, so that’s Tanaka.

 

“It was nerve-wracking and scary as fuck though, Oikawa is _terrifying_ ,” Kuroo says, breaking the hug with a very excited looking Bokuto. He smirks. Looks like a job well done.

 

“I don’t doubt it, honestly. This is Oikawa we’re talking about,” Hanamaki grins,” Speaking of…”

 

“Glad to know I made such an impression on you _Tetsu-chan_!” he singsongs darkly. Kuroo jumps a foot into the air. Fucking cat.

 

“Ack! Holy shit! When did you get there?” Kuroo says, whirling around to face him and holding his shirt where his heart is.

 

“When I got here,” Oikawa responds cheekily. Hanamaki laughs.

 

“Anything you n-need?” Asahi asks meekly. Oikawa shakes his head.

 

“Just observing! Don’t mind me!” Oikawa chirps.

 

“That would make me more worried,” Kuroo murmurs, quickly jogging away, Bokuto quickly abandoning his work to follow him. Oikawa feels slightly irked. He’s sure it show on his face because Asahi squeaks and falls on his ass.

 

“You are scary as fuck!” Kyoutani says, astonished,” I thought you weren’t nothing but a pretty face!” Oikawa smirks.

 

“You think I’m pretty?” Oikawa says, batting his eyelashes. Kyoutani nearly falls off his ladder sputtering, and Hanamaki is on the ground clutching his stomach from laughter.

 

“That was seamlessly executed!” Matsukawa laughs, holding his hand out for a high five. Oikawa smacks it, and Matsukawa holds his hand and hisses.

 

“OW!” he shouts.

 

“Sorry! I don’t know my own strength! I played sports and worked out on top of my job for like, years, so!” Oikawa says cheerfully. Got to establish power and strength now, so they can’t doubt me later.

 

“Sweet jesus!” Matsukawa says.

 

“What?” Asahi says. All the alphas burst out laughing.

 

“Dude that was awesome! You just responded to Daichi’s nickname, that’s great!” Tanaka said. Hanamaki and Oikawa are blinking at them blankly.

 

“Oh, right, you guys don’t know about...any of that,” Matsukawa says. Oikawa shrugs. He’s sure it’s not important.

 

“Guys, It’s getting dark, you can call it quits!” Iwaizumi said from behind them. Oikawa looked up, and Indeed, the sky was turning from faded pinks and oranges to a cool blue.

 

“I’ve got first watch, so don’t worry about it. Go eat and get some rest, we’ll be busy for a while,” Iwaizumi said. There was some shuffling, and the work stations were abandoned in seconds. Only Iwaizumi and Oikawa were left standing there. Oikawa took out his book and wrote down his observations.

 

“What are you doing?” Iwaizumi asked.

 

“Writing,” Oikawa said.

 

“About?”

 

“People.”

 

“Anything about me?” Huh, how perceptive. Maybe he’s not all brawn.

 

“Yeah.”  


“Well?”

 

“Well what?”

 

“What about me?” Oikawa thought about playing hard to get, but he was hungry, and tired of conversation. Contrary to popular belief, socializing wore him out, and sometimes he needed to get away from it all.

 

“You’re a brute,” Oikawa answered, honestly and bluntly.

 

“Hey!” Iwaizumi said. Oikawa shrugged.

 

“You asked. Now are you gonna walk me to where we’re eating, or what?”

 

“No,” Iwaizumi said turning and walking away. Oikawa tried to catch up, but damn he was fast.

 

“Iwaizumi-san!” Didn’t even look back.

 

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa shouted. Iwaizumi froze in place. Oikawa finally caught up with him.

 

“What?” Iwaizumi said. Oikawa tried to fight the blush. It was horrifying. Why was he so embarrassed now anyway? He never felt this way with any of his other nicknames! He swallowed thickly.

 

“I caught you Iwa-chan! Now you _have_ to show me!” Oikawa chirped, plastering on a smile, and grabbing his arm. It was a very nice arm.

 

“Stop that,” Iwaizumi told him.

 

“Stop what?”

 

“Stop it with the fake smiles. It’s annoying. How did someone like _you_ end up being in charge anyway?” Iwaizumi grumbles, ripping away from Oikawa’s grasp and stomping away. Oikawa felt frozen where he stood. Iwaizumi pinpointed the exact feelings he had when everyone picked him as Den Mother. Anyone would have been better than him! Sweet smiling Suga, or even calm collected Akaashi! How could he call himself a Den Mother? He hadn’t even known Kenma was sick! His thoughts spiraled, and he felt himself slipping into that dark place all over again. So dark…

 

“ _No_ …” Oikawa whispered, falling on his knees. It was getting hard to breathe. His chest was rising and falling but he couldn’t breathe, why couldn’t he breathe? He was just a failure at everything, wasn’t he? He gasped for air, and he felt heavy, and dizzy, and he couldn’t breathe, _he couldn’t breathe_.

 

“ _Help_ …” Oikawa whispered, and he fell into the dark.

  
  


♡                             ~                             ♡  


 

“Oi! Are you alright? Wake up, dumbass!” someone said. That wasn’t very nice, but he didn’t say anything because it was comfortable and _warm_ , and his tongue felt so _heavy_. Unfortunately, the feeling didn’t last long, as he was rudely jerked back to reality by water splashing in his face. He sputtered, and flailed a little, strong arms held him in place. Strong arms that were connected to shoulders, and a neck, and a face...fuck, it’s Iwaizumi.

 

“What do you want?” Oikawa sniffed, trying to wipe the water from his clothes, noting how dark the sky had gotten.

 

“Kageyama, go to my place, grab some blankets from the closet, he needs to warm up,” Iwaizumi said, completely ignoring him,” We’ll follow you.” Evidently, it had been Kageyama who had thrown the water on him. He was going to get him back for that.

 

“What do you mean, _we_? I’m not going anywhere with a mean brute!” Oikawa pouted. Iwaizumi merely raised an eyebrow.

 

“Well, if you want to do it the hard way,” he said.

 

“What are you-” Iwaizumi scooped him up and began to carry him in a princess hold, like he weighed absolutely nothing. Which was bullshit, because he knew he was made of a lot more muscle than most omegas, due to his years of playing volleyball down under.

 

“L-let me go!” Oikawa stuttered, blushing up to his ears and flailing his legs. Who did this guy think he was?

 

“No can do,” Iwaizumi said easily, not even batting an eyelash,” And if you keep up with the flailing, I’m going to throw you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes.” Oikawa huffed and fell silent. He did not wish to be treated like those weird vegetables.  They reached a gathering of large, thick trees, and they stopped.

 

“Why are we…?” Oikawa asked.

 

“Look up,” Iwaizumi said. Oikawa looked up. There, settled in the treetops, was a huge _house_. It was beautiful, with rope bridges strung from room to room. Oikawa gasped, and Iwaizumi grinned.

 

“I wanted to be as close to the stars as possible. Like I could become one, if I tried hard enough. Silly, I know,” Iwaizumi explained. Oikawa remained speechless.

 

“Hold on,” Iwaizumi grunted, and let go of his legs. He instinctively wrapped them around his waist. He did _not_ fancy being dropped. Iwaizumi climbed up the ladder, and when they reached the top, Oikawa let go of him and climbed onto the wooden platform. Iwaizumi steered him inside, and Kageyama appeared from another doorway, and draped him in blankets.

 

“Go get some water please,” Iwaizumi said to him, and Kageyama nodded and left, using a rope to grapple to the ground. Oikawa shivered when the cold air sifted through the canopy of leaves. Iwaizumi noticed.

 

“You should probably wrap those around yourself. Give me a sec, and I can get you some clothes I haven’t used in a while, so you won’t be uncomfortable with the scent,” Iwaizumi says, and disappears through the other doorway. Oikawa was surprised he even considered his comfort at all, because he had the _audacity_ to drag him here at all, and this was all his fault!

 

“Here,” Iwaizumi said, reappearing and throwing a pair of pants and a shirt at him,” The pants might be a little short, and the shirt a little big, but it’s better than nothing.”  
  
“Why did you throw water on me in the first place?” Oikawa said in irritation. Iwaizumi slumped a little.

 

“You wouldn’t wake up,” he says quietly, and Oikawa stills and looks at him for a moment, and realizes he was _worried_ about him.

 

“I’m fine,” Oikawa grits out, looking away, and it sounds like a lie even to himself. Iwaizumi sighs.

 

“Okay, uhm, follow me so you can change,” Iwaizumi says absentmindedly, running his fingers through his hair, and Oikawa wonders why he didn’t call him out on the obvious lie. He follows Iwaizumi across the rickety bridge, which is swaying in the winter wind, and Iwaizumi is holding his shoulder, steadying him. When he lets go, his hand left his shoulder feeling warm and the rest of his body cold. Iwaizumi shows him into a bedroom in the main house, and judging by the scent, it’s unused. He changes quickly, cold air rushing to his body. He wraps the blanket around his shoulders, and peeks his head out the door.

 

“You done?” Iwaizumi asks him. He nods.

 

“Just leave them there, I’ll get them later,” he tells him, waving his arm and walking down the hall, obviously intending for Oikawa to follow him. It takes a minute for him to realize he meant his clothes, and jogs slightly to catch up, embarrassed with his slowness. Iwaizumi is looking at him oddly out of the corner of his eye, and because Oikawa’s feeling like a little pissed with him right now, he points it out.

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

 

“Nothing,” Iwaizumi lies quickly, and Oikawa takes pity on him, but only because Iwaizumi didn’t call him out on his lie earlier, and chooses to ignore it.

 

He leads him through the hallway, and it’s a large, spacious home with lots of rooms.

 

“Why are there so many rooms?” Oikawa wondered.

 

“I’ve always wanted pups,” Iwaizumi shrugs,” Like, a lot of them, and I didn’t feel like having to remodel later on."

 

“Oh.” Iwaizumi chuckles, and they end up in a big room with an open roof, which Oikawa assumes is the kitchen because of the counters and cook stove and table, but doesn’t care much and is too busy gaping at the stars. They were so close. Like he could reach out and touch them. He tries, and frowns at his hands, and turns to ask Iwaizumi about it, and finds the man already staring at him with an unreadable expression. Iwaizumi walks past him towards the cook stove, ruffling his hair as he goes, and Oikawa almost wants to complain, because he _is not a child don’t treat him like one_ , but can’t find it in him to do so. There’s a pot of water on the table, so Oikawa thinks that Kageyama already came and went. And Oikawa grabs it, dropping his blanket and grunting as he does so, because _this thing is heavy_ , but he refuses to let Iwaizumi help him, and sets it down on the stove. He ignores Iwaizumi’s rather impressed look, picks his blanket up, and sinks into a chair at the kitchen table, huffing as he does so. Iwaizumi is starting up the fire, and within a few minutes, a nice cheery blaze is ignited, chasing off the cold of the winter months. Iwaizumi gives him some tough looking meat, and eats it because he’s hungry enough not to care, and it tastes better than it looks anyway. By the time he’s finished, Iwaizumi is taking the pot off the stove and letting it cool down. He sits in front of him, and Oikawa can tell he wants to say something, but he’s not sure how to say it, or doesn’t want to, and Oikawa watches him struggle with a vindictive sort of pleasure, because Iwaizumi was mean to him, and he isn’t going forgive that anytime soon.

 

“What happened?” Iwaizumi finally said after a bit, startling Oikawa from his thoughts.

 

“Well, I don’t know Iwa-chan,” Oikawa says, startling him with the nickname being spoken in such a harsh tone, so different from his usual carefree and cheerful attitude,” Why don’t you tell me? Or at least try to take a guess.” Iwaizumi looks at him for a moment.

 

“Sometimes…” he begins, and Oikawa raises an eyebrow, urging him to continue. He wants to hear what he has to say.

 

“Sometimes certain people in this pack get these spells, and by the position you were in, and the look in your eye when you woke, I’d say that’s what happened to you.” He’s surprised, because he didn’t think Iwaizumi would figure it out. Not even everybody in his pack knows his mental condition.

 

“What did I look like?” Oikawa asked, surprising even himself with the question.

 

“Like you thought you were worthless,” Iwaizumi says after a moment, staring at the table in front of him to try and get away from Oikawa’s burning gaze. Oikawa looks at him for a moment longer, then starts messing with his nails. They were getting long, he’d have to cut them soon.

 

“Kuroo told me about it. Explained it all to me. They’re called panic attacks,” Oikawa says, only to lift the oppressing silence,” It’s a mental condition. Some are born with it, some develop it. Anxiety. Like really bad nervousness.”

 

“Were you born with it?” Iwaizumi asks him. Oikawa finally looks at him again, closing his hand into a fist, the clank of his nails like bells in the quiet.

 

“No I developed it,” Oikawa says finally.

 

“How?”

 

“Some would say it was when I watched a faceless alpha rape and kill my mother,” Oikawa says nonchalantly, tapping his nails on the table in front of him,” Others would say it came from my need to be perfect. As for myself, I think it comes from my fear of failing. From my worthless pride. But don’t you forget it.” Oikawa chuckles and looks up at the sky, something a day ago he didn’t know existed. He never wants to live in that darkness again.

 

“I’m sorry,” Iwaizumi says suddenly.

  
“Oh?” Oikawa says softly, bringing his face back down,” It’s like you’re actually guilty about the consequences of your actions. Do go on.” Iwaizumi squirms in his seat a little, and Oikawa relishes over the power Iwaizumi has unconsciously given him.

 

“It was my fault. For saying those things. I was irritated, and I shouldn’t have said it,” he says, and suddenly Oikawa is irritated.

 

“No, you were merely honestly speaking your mind, it was my fault. You were right,” Oikawa shrugs, and he knows he’s being childish, but he really needs someone to tell him differently right now, to alleviate the sting of the truth, and there’s no one here but Iwaizumi, and he hardly ever gets to act selfish like this. But it’s like Iwaizumi knows what he’s thinking, because he doesn’t correct him, doesn’t say anything at all.

 

“You _are_ annoying,” Iwaizumi says finally, and Oikawa raises an eyebrow at him, mouth posed to speak.

 

“But-let me finish-,” he says, holding up a hand to stop him from talking,” You're smart. And obviously hardworking. So I guess your bad qualities balance out your good ones.” Oikawa looks at him for a second, then slumps, bringing a hand up to rub his temples. He’s tired. Tired physically, mentally, and emotionally. Tired of people, tired of the situation, tired of himself.

 

“I have an offer for you.” Oikawa looks up, and Iwaizumi is leaned forward, hands interlocked neatly, resting on the table in front of him.

 

“I know it’s hard for someone who has a lot of responsibility. Hell, I feel the effects of it myself, everyday. But I have Daichi to help me out with that. You, you have no one. So I'm making an offer. If you ever feel overwhelmed, ever feel like you need to get away from it all, ever just need a break, come here, okay? Just walk right in. I don’t mind.” Oikawa looks at him for a long time, until he can’t stand the eye contact another second.

 

“Thank you,” Oikawa says after a moment's pause. Iwaizumi, satisfied he’s had his say, leans back and stretches, arms going way over his head.

 

“Well, it’s really late, and I bet you are extremely tired. I had Kageyama alert everyone that you’re okay, because they were worried when you didn’t come back,” Iwaizumi says, and Oikawa suddenly feels guilty. Here he is, having a hissy fit because everything didn’t go the way he wanted, and he just left his nest like that. He tastes the tears before he feels them, the salt thick on his tongue. He feels Iwaizumi pull him up and wrap his arms around him, and he just stands there and cries. It feels nice to finally cry, after keeping it in so long. How many years has it been since he last cried? He doesn’t know anymore, and he feels _safe_ , and he smells _home_. After the tears have somewhat dried up, he pulls away sniveling.

 

“You're a handful, aren’t you?” Iwaizumi asks him, wiping some of the tears from his cheeks with his thumbs,” Ugly crier too.” Oikawa huffs and turns his head away, and Iwaizumi only chuckles.

 

“Come on, you can sleep in one of the guest rooms,” Iwaizumi says, pulling him into the hallway by his wrist. Oikawa can’t help but wonder what it would be like if the alpha held his hand, but immediately locks up the thought, and shoves it away into the deep recesses of his mind. Iwaizumi leads him back to the room he changed in, and picks his wet clothes off the floor and herds him into bed. When Oikawa gets under the thick blanket, Iwaizumi has already disappeared, leaving the door ajar. Oikawa frowns, contemplating getting up to shut it, and is leaning towards staying under the comfort of the sheets, when Iwaizumi reappears, and this time with a cup full of water. He passes it to Oikawa, and Oikawa drinks the now cold water, soothing his dry throat. He hands the cup back to Iwaizumi, and the alpha sets it on the bedside table. He watches the man leave the room, leaving the door just a crack open, and suddenly Oikawa feels grateful for this, because it makes him feel less alone in the creaking home, like Iwaizumi is right there and all he has to do is call. With this feeling settling in his chest, Oikawa burrows into the sheets and lets sleep envelop him.

  
  
♡                             ~                             ♡

 

 

Oikawa wakes up a few hours later in a cold sweat, when the moon is still high in the sky. He sits up, listening to sway of the home in the wind. It was creaking like an angry spirits scream. He pushed the covers back and swung his feet to the cold wooden floor. He picked up the discarded blanket he had been using before going to bed and draped it across his shoulders. Feet sliding against the hardwood, he moved to the slightly ajar door. He pressed the palm of his hand against the smooth surface of the door handle and pulled it open slowly, flinching when it creaked. He shuffled down the hallway, stopping at the door that smelled strongly of Iwaizumi. He paused, and quietly rested his forehead against the door, listening to the alphas calm, steady breathing. He flipped, and pushed his back against the door frame, sliding down. When he was seated, he arranged the blanket underneath him so the floor wouldn’t leech all of his body heat. He leaned his head against the door frame and willed himself to sleep. He was nearly there when he felt the door open, and his knee fall slightly, but he was too sleepy to react. He felt strong arms pick him up, and he was wrapped in Iwaizumi scent, and it was nice. Like the pointy trees and peppermint? He snuggled closer, trying to leech the newfound warmth and bask in the scent, and he felt Iwaizumi hum. They moved back down the hall and back into the bedroom, and Iwaizumi sat him back into bed. He moved to leave, but Oikawa mustered enough wakefulness to whine. He heard the alpha sigh, and the end of the bed creaked as he sat back down on it. Oikawa relaxed, and snuggled back into the blankets. 

 

“Alright, I’ll stay,” Iwaizumi said, and Oikawa succumbed to sleep.

  
  


♡                             ~                             ♡

  
  
  


 

When Oikawa woke again, sunlight was streaming onto his face, and Iwaizumi was sleeping sitting up against the bedpost on the far edge of the bed. Oikawa felt like a prince from his old fairy tale books, waking up to find the guard faithfully looking over him whilst he dreamt. He blushed at the comparison, and push the covers back. Then he pulled them right back up again. _It was cold!_ Oikawa shivered and looked to the sleeping alpha. Then he kicked at him through the covers.

 

“Iwa-chan!”

 

“Iwa-chan!” he tried again, and Iwaizumi woke with a start.

 

“Wha? Whaz goin’ on?” Iwaizumi slurred through sleep. Oikawa giggled.

 

“It’s _cold_!” Oikawa complained. Iwaizumi yawned and stretched.

 

“I swear, you are becoming the bane of my existence. You’re lucky you’re pretty,” Iwaizumi grumbled. He got up and left the room, leaving Oikawa staring at the ceiling.

 

“He thinks I’m pretty?” Oikawa said aloud, only to hear the words form into existence, something a bit more tangible than just a thought flying through his head. Iwaizumi came back a few minutes later, with different clothes on.

 

“Come on you sloth, get up,” Iwaizumi urges him.

 

“No. Don’t wanna!” Oikawa whined. Iwaizumi rolls his eyes at him.

 

“Come on,” he sighs.

 

“No!” Oikawa says, pulling the blankets over his head.

 

“Fine then,” Iwaizumi said. Oikawa felt him get off the bed, and he thinking he was safe, he relaxed his hold on the blanket, and suddenly Iwaizumi yanks it down and starts tickling him. Oikawa starts laughing. He can’t help it, he’s extremely ticklish! He finally manages to push Iwaizumi away and flops onto his back, wiping the tears of laughter away from his cheeks.

 

“You up now?” Iwaizumi asks.

 

“Yes, yes!” Oikawa groans, rolling over to push himself into a standing position. He stretches, and catches Iwaizumi looking at him strangely again.

 

“What?” Oikawa wonders.

 

“Nothing,” Iwaizumi lies. Then it clicks.

 

“Oh~! Is it cause Iwa-chan thinks I’m pretty?” Oikawa says, smirking a little.

 

“Pssh! As if!” Iwaizumi huffs, walking into the hallway.

 

“Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa calls after him, not bothering to catch up, waking up at his own pace. He finally gets up and walks into the kitchen, which looks just as pretty as last night, and sits at the table.

 

“Go look around or something, I’m making breakfast, and you’re naturally distracting,” Iwaizumi tells him.

 

“What, is it because I’m naturally pretty?”

 

“No, it because you’re naturally loud.” Oikawa huffs, and gets up to explore. He looks around in all the rooms, except for Iwaizumi’s, and they’re more or less the same, until he finds a different doorway onto a rope bridge towards a different building that had been hidden in an adjacent hallway. He doesn’t feel brave enough to walk the bridge on his own, so he waits for Iwaizumi to come find him. Sure enough, a few minutes later the alpha appears.

 

“What are you doing over here?” Iwaizumi asks him.

 

“What’s that?” Oikawa points, and Iwaizumi rolls his eyes.

 

“Come on,” he says, and Oikawa is suddenly being pulled by his wrist again, and Iwa is pulling him onto the swaying bridge, and it’s moving and Oikawa feels like he’s flying, but Iwaizumi’s hand is grounding him, and he feels an odd warmth settle in his chest, and Iwaizumi pulls him into the secret building. Oikawa gasps when he sees it, the light filtering through the windows just right, and on the far window, a built-in window seat, with some comfy cushions that is practically scream his name, and adjacent to all the windows are book cases filled to the brim with books, which Oikawa loves and the only person that loves books more than Kenma is himself, and the whole room is light and warm, and Oikawa feels drowsy already, and he knows he’ll be spending more time here. He crosses the room and sits on the window seat.

 

“This is mine,” he says, and then turns to stare out the window.

 

“Okay, I take it you like it then,” Iwaizumi chuckles,” But we have to go eat, and I don’t allow food around the books.”

 

“Can I take one with me?” Oikawa asks. Iwaizumi looks at him with a scrunched nose, and Oikawa finds it kind of cute, even though he would never admit it out loud.

 

“Okay,” he says finally,” But you have to bring it back.” Oikawa cheers, and begins to pick through them, until he finds one he likes. _Aliens and Extraterrestrial Life_. He’s not sure what it’s about, but the cover is very pretty, navy blue with sprinkles of stars across the front.  Iwaizumi laughs when he sees it.

 

“That one? Seriously? I got that as a joke,” he says, still chuckling.

 

“Well, I’m going to read it, and I’m going to love it!” Oikawa exclaims, sticking his tongue out at the alpha. Iwaizumi shakes his head at Oikawa’s antics.

 

“Come on,” he tells him, and this time just turns around, and Oikawa is determined to get through the bridge as fearlessly as Iwaizumi. He nearly dashes across it, and breathes a sigh of relief when his feet hit solid platform, and Iwaizumi is laughing at him again, so now he’s cross. He huffs and stomps towards the kitchen, and breakfast is on the table, and he’s never been so happy to see food in his life. He sits down and eats, not bothering to wait for Iwaizumi. He hears him sit in front of him and dig in as well, and he only hums in greeting. They finish, and Iwaizumi whisks the plate from him, and sets them in a bin Oikawa has just now noticed, and begins to herd him towards the door.

 

“We should go now, Suga is probably having a heart attack at this point,” Iwaizumi sighs. Oikawa frowns at the thought, and they cross the other bridge to get to the exit. Iwaizumi silently offers to help him down, but Oikawa declines. He pulls on the rope to make sure of it’s sturdiness, and proceeds to grapple down seamlessly, Iwaizumi close above him. At Iwaizumi’s questioning look, he shrugs.

 

“Just like rock climbing,” Oikawa grins, and Iwaizumi huffs.

 

“You know, you’re a lot stronger than most omegas,” Iwaizumi remarks after they walk for a bit.

 

“I used to play sports and work out,” Oikawa shrugs. This gets Iwaizumi’s attention.

 

“Oh? What did you play?”

 

“Volleyball. I was a setter.”

 

“Seriously? They have _volleyball_ underground?” Iwaizumi asks, incredulous.

 

“Yeah, you play?”

 

“Hell yeah I play. Most here do. Kageyama is our setter.”

 

“Cool, we’ll have to play together sometime.”

 

“That would be nice.”

 

“ _Oikawa Tooru where the hell have you been?_ ” Suga asks hysterically. They’d arrived.

 

“Aaaand that’s my cue. I’m sorry for inconveniencing you,” Oikawa says seriously, bowing to him. Iwaizumi looks surprised.

 

“It’s no problem. Just keep in mind what I said, okay?”

 

“I know, and thank you,” Oikawa said. Iwaizumi backs away before Suga reached them, so he wouldn’t be mauled by the worried omega.

 

“We’ve all been worried out of our minds! You are in so much trouble! What happened!” Suga said tackling him,” And what are you wearing?”

 

“...Clothes,” Oikawa says.

 

“And where are your other ones?” Suga questions. Sometimes, Oikawa feels like Suga and him have completely switched roles, and he doesn’t know how he feels about that.

 

“...Probably still wet.”

 

“And why would they be wet?”

 

“Because Kageyama threw water on me.”

 

“And why did he do that?”

 

“Because I wouldn’t wake up, apparently.”

 

“And why not?”

 

“Because I had passed out from a really bad panic attack.”

 

“ _What?_ ” Suga screeches, immediately abandoning his chastising atmosphere, and surging forward to make sure he was okay.

 

“I’m fine, I’m fine, Iwa-chan found me and took me in for the night,” Oikawa says, prying Suga off of him. Suga freezes.

 

“He’s gained your trust then?” Suga whispers, glancing his way, and Oikawa curses himself for letting the nickname slip.

 

“I guess,” Oikawa says, kicking the dirt.

 

“...You really worried us.”

 

“I know, and I’m sorry...I even cried about it,” he admits begrudgingly.

 

“You...you cried?” Suga says, and he’s looking at him like he’s grown another head again, and Oikawa is getting really tired of people looking at him like that. Maybe he’s just tired in general. Yeah that’s it.

 

“They play volleyball here,” Oikawa says, and it’s a horrible attempt at a change it topic and he knows it, and Suga knows it too and is giving him that look that says ‘ _We’ll be talking about this later_ ’ but he really doesn’t want him to find out all the details, like how he acted like a weak, sniveling, omegan brat who cried in some alphas arms the moment he felt things were out of place.

 

“They do?” Suga sighed,” We should play sometime then.” Oikawa nods in agreement, and they start heading to the grove, and Oikawa braces himself for what he knows is coming.

 

“ _Tooru!_ ” someone shouts, probably Hinata, and within five seconds flat, Oikawa is knocked clean to the ground, covered in ten different omegas.

 

“Where were you?” “We were worried!” “You are in much trouble!” “What happened?” “Why didn’t you come back?” Oikawa was hit with at least ten different voices at once, and had to squirm to get some leverage.

 

“I’m sorry! I got in some trouble and needed some help! But I’m all better now, I promise!” Oikawa says, and he realizes, a silent sort of recognition, that even though it had only been a day, he missed his nest, and all of his pups.

 

“Are you sure?” Akaashi asks him.

 

“Yes, yes! I promise!” Oikawa says.

 

“Okay! Off of him now!” Suga says, and most of them get off, but Noya is clinging to his back, and both Hinata’s are hanging onto each leg. Iwaizumi, who’s followed them, starts laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

 

“Shut _up_ , Iwa-chan!” he says furiously, and Iwaizumi only laughs harder, and Noya is crawling on his head now, and _oh my savior are these kids attached to his skin or something they won’t come off_ , and Iwaizumi is nearly on the ground now, and Oikawa is irritated. Then he get a stroke of genius.

 

“Hey guys! Guess what?” he says brightly, clapping his hands together and _oh my savior Noya stop that now_.

 

“What?” Yahaba asks.

 

“Today’s gonna be a Grooming Day!” he says brightly,” Noya, darling, please get off my head I have a job for you- _Iwa-chan quit laughing!_ ”

 

“What, what?” Noya says, climbing off and jumping up and down.

 

“I wanna a job!” Hinata says indignantly.

 

“Maybe if you detach yourself from my leg, I can give you one,” Oikawa says.

 

“Tooru, what am I going to do?” Natsu asks.

 

“Uhhh…” Oikawa looks around, and his eyes fall on Iwaizumi, who is still laughing. Time to get sweet, sweet revenge. Oikawa grins. Iwaizumi straightens up and sees the look on his face.

 

“Whatever it is you want, I’m going to say no,” Iwaizumi tells him immediately.

 

“Oh? So you wouldn’t want to take this little one around for the day and show her what a big strong alpha does? Natsu, tell Iwa-chan you want to go with him!” Oikawa says,” And don’t forget to pout just like I showed you!”

 

“Please Iwa-chan!” Natsu says with the widest eyes and cutest pout she can manage. Oikawa eternally laughs evilly as he watches Iwaizumi’s resolve crumble. Of course he was going to use Iwaizumi’s weakness for children, what did he expect?

 

“I hate you, this is all _your_ fault,” Iwaizumi glared at him. Natsu cheered.

 

“Shouldn’t have laughed!” Oikawa singsongs.

 

“Are we gonna go now? Can we go now?” Natsu says, practically climbing his leg. Everyone except Iwaizumi laughs.

 

“Yep, come on,” Iwaizumi says tiredly, picking her up and swing her onto his shoulders. She whoops.

 

“Bye-bye Mama Tooru! Bye-bye Nii-chan!” Natsu says.

 

“Bye-bye my little pup! have fun!” Oikawa calls.

 

“Bye sis!” Hinata says.

 

“So what’s my job?” Noya asks.

 

“You are going to find all the omegas and gather them here!” Oikawa chirps,” Think you can handle that?”

 

“Of course!” Noya says, pointing to his chest proudly,” I wasn’t the best messenger for nothing!”

 

“Good! I can count on you then!” Oikawa says. Noya runs off, energetic as ever.

 

“What about me?” Hinata pouts. Damn, he’s gotten good at that, he had taught him well.

 

“Well, can you through all the bags to find anything we can use? I for one, know I brought a whole bag of various products, and I know for certain Kiyoko has some scented soaps somewhere,” Oikawa said. Hinata saluted, and zipped away to the area where they kept all the bags.

 

“Tooru?” Kenma said, and Oikawa whirled around.

 

“You’re up and about!” Oikawa exclaimed. Kenma looked at him for a second, with his signature scrunchy-nose face. And then punched him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain and _Suga really needs to stop teaching them things like that because that hurt like a bitch!_

 

“Don’t do that again,” he deadpans, and wraps his arms around his waist when Oikawa comes back up.

 

“Okay?” Kenma said softly. Oikawa rested his chin on Kenma’s head and hugged him back fiercely.

 

“Okay,” he murmurs. Someone coughs, and Oikawa looks up to see Kuroo awkwardly standing there.

 

“I’m stealing him for today, no alphas allowed sorry,” Oikawa tells him,” I couldn’t even let Natsu participate.”

 

“Okay,” Kuroo shrugs,” Have a good day Kitten.” Then he leaves, and Oikawa is left staring at a very red Kenma.

 

“He just started calling me that,” Kenma muttered.

 

“That’s adorable!” Suga says.

 

Yahaba, Kunimi, Akaashi, and Ennoshita noticing that Oikawa was no longer busy and standing around with Kenma and Suga saw this as a perfect time to strike.

 

“I have a question,” Akaashi says.

 

“Uhm, okay-” Oikawa starts.

 

“Are those Iwaizumi-san’s clothes?” Yahaba cut him off. Suga’s whole face lights up as Oikawa goes read, and Kenma smirks.

 

“What exactly happened while you were gone? We want details,” Ennoshita demanded.

 

“Yeah Oikawa,” Suga teased,” We want details!”

 

“There are no details!” Oikawa sputters, extremely flustered. They were ganging up on him dammit!

 

“Then why are you blushing?” Kunimi pointed out.

 

“We’re not letting you go until you spill,” Akaashi says. God Dammit, stop making so much sense!

 

“Fine! I woke up when he had Kageyama throw water on me, and when I would follow him he had the _audacity_ the scoop me up and carry me! And then threatened to treat me like _potatoes_ of all things!” Oikawa ranted,” He carried me to this group of trees, which his house was in and I have to admit, seeing a house on top of trees was the coolest thing ever, but he carried me up, and Kageyama gave me blankets and went to go get me water and I didn’t see him again, but I suppose he did come back at some point because there was a pot of water on the table I carried to the stove, and did I mention his house is _huge_ -”

 

“Breathe, Tooru, breathe,” Suga urged.

 

“Right, right, anyway, I didn’t see Kageyama again, but before that I had to change out of the wet clothes and Iwa-chan gave me these because he hadn’t wore them in a while so I wouldn’t be uncomfortable, which was sort of sweet, but I’m still cross with him, and-”

 

“Where did you change? And where are your clothes?” Yahaba interrupted.

 

“I’m getting to it, jeez!” Oikawa said, and by this time all the omegas had reached the grove and were listening in on his story,” Anyway, I changed in a guest bedroom and he has so many rooms in that goddamn place, and when I asked he said it was because he want pups but he didn’t want to remodel! Ridiculous! Anyway-”

 

“Iwaizumi actually let you up there?” Yaku said,” I can count on one hand how many people have seen that place, and that’s only because they’re either related to him or helped build the place!” Yaku exclaimed.

 

“Oh really?” Suga said.

 

“Well would you look at that!” Hanamaki said dryly.

 

“He felt bad,” Oikawa said, twirling his hair in his finger.

 

“Why?” Hinata asked.

 

“Because he indirectly caused my panic attack in the first place. He felt bad, and even apologized profusely, so I guess I’ve forgiven him, but only because of something else,” Oikawa said.

 

“What?” Kenma asked.

 

“I’m getting to it,” Oikawa smiled,” Well, we sat down and talked about it, I’m sorry and no you were right blahblahblah, there was lots of crying and feelings on my part and _let me finish Kou-chan_ and he called me and ugly crier, can you believe that?! Then he fed me and put me in the guest room and I sort of woke up in the middle of the night after a nightmare and uhhh well I’m gonna skip that part actually-”

 

“You better not! If you’re skipping it then it’s gotta be good!” Suga said, karate chopping his side.

 

“Ow, Kou-chan! Fine!” Oikawa pouted,” In my defense I was half asleep and terrified! I get up and got to his room and the sort of sit down and lean against the doorframe and fall mostly asleep but then he gets up and I don’t know why, but he picks me princess style and carries me back to bed, and when he tries to leave-in my defense, I was scared!- I whine, so he stays, and fall asleep sitting up and the foot of the bed against the bedpost, and when I woke up I kinda felt like a prince and he was my knight but I was half asleep so, yeah.” He pants, and everyone looks kinda surprised.

 

“What are you guys, Romeo and Juliet or some shit?” Hanamaki says finally.

 

“Of course not!” Oikawa says.

 

“What happens afterward? That makes you forgive him? Or was that it?” Ennoshita asks.

 

“I-I…” Oikawa blushes.

 

“What happens!” Suga says.

 

“Spill!” Yamaguchi calls.

 

“Yeah!” Noya says.

 

“Okay. so when I wake up, I’m really cold so I kick him awake, and he wakes up and he’s still half asleep and calls me the bane of his existence but also pretty too, and I’m just? So flattered? So of course I have to mention it a few times, but like he tries to get me out of bed, and guys know how I am, and I’m like No! And hide under the blankets and he waits, _he waits!_ For my grip on the blankets to slacken, and yanks them right off! And he doesn’t stop there! He tickles me! _Tickles me!_ ” Oikawa fumes,” I finally get him to stop and get up and follow him into the kitchen which is _so pretty by the way it has an open roof and everything_ but back to the story he tells me to go poke around while he makes breakfast, and all the rooms are the same, but I found a different hall that led to this different bridge, that leads to a hidden room in the trees! I’m too scared to go alone, but Iwa-chan finds me and drags me across and _oh my god his hands are like, so big?_ But anyway, I look in there and it’s a library of all things with a window spot!” Kenma perks up at this.

 

“Did you get a book?” he asks.

 

“Yes, actually, but I have to bring it back,” Oikawa says, handing him the book, smiling at Kenma’s excited expression. Same Kenma, same.

 

“So that’s pretty much it. We eat and he takes me back here. Oh, and apparently they play volleyball too, so we should play with them sometime,” Oikawa says.

 

“Volleyball?” Hinata perks up. Oikawa sighs. That boy.

 

“I have a feeling there’s something else you’re not telling us,” Akaashi say finally, after the words have soaked in.

 

“I told-” then Oikawa remembers. The offer.

 

“Uhm, well, he said…” He trails off, fiddling with his fingers.

 

“What did he say?” Yachi asks.

 

“Well, he told me I could come back anytime if I ever needed a break,” Oikawa says finally.

 

“Well, that’s it right there then. He likes you. There is no way in hell he’s just feeling bad, because _he invited you back_. He wouldn’t do that if he didn’t like you!” Yaku says, throwing his hands up.

 

“Seriously?” Oikawa asked.

 

“Wow,” Kunimi says.

 

“Well, while typical Oikawa’s having his own fucking love story over here, I tripped and broke the nose of the alpha _I_ liked, so…” Hanamaki says.

 

“ _You like somebody_?” Oikawa screeched.

 

“Who?” Suga demanded.

 

“Matsukawa,” Hanamaki shrugged.

 

“I had to patch him up,” Yamaguchi said,” It was really bad.”

 

“There was blood everywhere!” Yachi piped up earnestly.

 

“Thanks guys. And then I had to go and _joke_ about it,” Hanamaki groans.

 

“That sounds exactly like something you would do, to be honest,” Akaashi says.

 

“Thanks,” Hanamaki glared.

 

“Aw! All my pups are growing up!” Oikawa says. There is a collective eyeroll.

 

“Well, while we all talk about newfound crushes while Oikawa writes them down in that little book of his, let’s get started shall we?” Suga said. Oikawa grumbled. Everyone cheers.

  
  
♡                             ~                             ♡

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Den Mothers Duties -
> 
> \- Help find their nesting omegas mates  
> \- Take and give courtship offers for each omega that resides in their nest  
> \- Take care of all omegas and unpresented in their nest  
> \- They are not allowed to find and choose their own mate, This is the Den Brother/Sister's job  
> \- Help during birth of young  
> \- Take care of physical and emotional needs, like their birthmother would.  
> \- If a brood of omegas has found themselves a Den Mother, the birthmother(s) no longer has any say on them, and it is all the Den Mother's decision  
> \- A Den Mother must have a certain set of qualities  
> \- There must be a least five omegas to have a Den Mother
> 
>  
> 
> If you have questions, comment them down below! And please leave kudos!


	3. Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Because, Kageyama,” Hinata sighs,” I don’t care. Death means nothing to me anymore.” Kageyama falls silent at his admission, and Hinata grips the knife handle, pulling up and pushing down with his foot. Damn it was in there good. 
> 
>  
> 
> A.K.A. The chapter that Hinata is actually totally Emo.

 

 

 

“Hinata! Can you put all the stuff you found over here?” Tooru called. Hinata looked up and nodded, then grabbed the things.

 

“Here?” he asked.

 

“Yep!” Tooru said, patting him on the head. Warmth bloomed in Hinata’s chest. He has done Tooru proud!

 

“Okay everyone, circle please!” Suga called. Hinata sat in the circle with Kenma on one side and Noya on the other. A few minutes later, a small nail kit was shoved into his hands, along with pail polish, lotion, a hair brush, various hair things, and a makeup bag.

 

“Okay, you can split into groups now!” Tooru said. Hinata relaxed a little. He liked being in his group. But he had to remember to be quieter than usual, since Kenma was still not quite at a hundred percent. Kenma gestured for Noya and him to join him under the tree Noya had been climbing yesterday. Noya beamed, and plopped down next to Kenma.

 

“Okay, so Kenma first! He seriously needs to be pampered!” Noya said,” And let’s make him extra pretty, so Kuroo doesn’t know what’s coming to him!”

 

“Yeah!” Hinata agreed.

 

“You guys…” Kenma blushed. They laughed.

 

“What should we start on?” Noya wondered.

 

“We should probably wait for Akaashi and Yaku to come back with those bins of water, so we can wash his hair,” Hinata suggested.

 

“Okay!” Noya said,” So what’s new?”

 

“Hey Kenma, didn’t I hear Kuroo call you by that nickname earlier?” Hinata piped up.

 

“Yes,” Kenma grumbled,” And it’s embarrassing, and I have no idea what to do about it.”

 

“Hm,” Hinata thought,” Well you could get him back for it somehow.”

 

“Like what?” Kenma said.

 

“Oh! You could give him a nickname!” Noya suggested loudly, and Kenma winced,” Sorry.”

 

“I think I could come up with one,” Kenma said after a moment. Noya grinned triumphantly.

 

“Ah! They’re back with the water!” Hinata noticed,” I’ll go get it!” He got up and dashed across the grove, narrowly missing Yahaba, who was working on Hanamaki’s nails.

 

“Sorry!” he called, and he heard a couple people laugh.

 

“Here for one of these?” Yaku asked. Hinata nodded, and was handed a basin, some soap that smelled like apples, and a towel. He made his way back more carefully this time, taking care not to drop anything.

 

“Oh, what kind of soap did we get?” Noya asked.

 

“Apples,” Hinata answered, and Kenma perked up a little. Hinata laughed, and set the basin down. Noya and Kenma had stretched a blanket out under the tree, and he put the towel and soap there.

 

“Okay, Kenma, come over here,” Noya said, sitting by the basin. Kenma sighed.

 

“We’ll be careful, don’t worry,” Hinata added. Kenma pursed his lips and lay with his back to the basin, and lowered his head into the water. Noya reached in and began to wet his hair and massage his scalp. Kenma purred. Hinata handed Noya the soap, and began to take Kenma’s shoes off. He found a small rag and dipped it in the water, and cleaned his feet. Kenma wiggled his toes.

 

“Tickles,” Kenma muttered. Noya laughed. Hinata grinned and pushed up the skirt of the dress he was wearing, and cleaned his legs as well. He carefully took his jacket off and cleaned his arms and legs and neck as well. As he was washing his neck, he noticed a delicate gold chain, but didn’t say anything. Then he set the rag on the edge of the basin and grabbed the lotion. He dabbed some into his hands and began massage it into all the parts he cleaned.

 

“Is that cinnamon?” Noya wondered. Hinata nodded.

 

“Looks like you’re gonna smell like cinnamon and apples then, huh Kenma?” Noya said. Hinata chuckled. Noya finished washing his hair, and grabbed the rag to clean his face. When they finished with that, they sat Kenma up and dried his hair. Noya took the brush and ran it through his hair.

 

“Any requests?” Noya asked Kenma.

 

“Ponytail please, you know how I like it,” Kenma murmured.

 

“You always choose the same thing!” Hinata complained.

 

“Why mess with perfection?” Kenma sassed. Noya laughed and Hinata pouted. Hinata dropped a hair tie into Noya’s outstretched hand, and grabbed the nail kit. He grabbed Kenma’s left hand and began to file and buff every nail. When Noya was finished with Kenma’s hair he started on the other hand. Hinata looked at their choices in nail polish.

 

“What color?” Hinata asked.

 

“Red,” Kenma said,” It’s Kuroo’s favorite color.”

 

“Cute,” Noya teased, and Kenma glared at him. Hinata shrugged and picked up the red polish, carefully putting two coats on each nail. Perfect. The practice on Natsu paid off. He handed Noya the bottle, and grabbed the clear top coat. His spread that on top, and handed the bottle Noya when he was done. When they finished his nails, Tooru walked over.

 

“Okay, now from experience, I’m not gonna sugar coat this,” Tooru says,” Anyone you guys have your eyes on?” Hinata thought for a moment. He had met a lot of alphas, but none of them were quite what he wanted.

 

“I just want to think I’m amazing regardless of my personality and my tendencies, you know?” Hinata said after a second’s thought,” But nobody here really strikes that chord with me.”

 

“Thighs,” was all Noya said. Tooru laughed.

 

“Glad to see you have your priorities straight Noya,” Tooru said, shaking his head,” And Hinata, that’s really admirable. I’m glad, okay?”

 

“Thanks,” Hinata smiled.

 

“Kenma, you and Kuroo alright?” Tooru asked. Kenma nodded and blushed.

 

“He gave me a present, actually,” Kenma said.

 

“What?” Hinata said,” Why didn’t we hear about this?”

 

“Because you never asked,” Kenma shrugged.

 

“What’s the present?” Tooru wondered. Kenma smiled and pulled the gold chain out from underneath his clothes. It was and intricate gold oval locket, with what looked like a family crest on the front.

 

“It’s so pretty!” Noya exclaimed.

 

“It belonged to his mother,” Kenma said. Hinata frowned. He wished he had something like that. Then closed his eyes and steered his train of thought away from that. That was Kenma’s. Not his. Kenma deserves love and support, not evil intentions. How dare he even think about it?

 

“Shouyou, are you okay?” Kenma asked. Hinata decided to be honest.

 

“I know it’s a little messed up,” Hinata smiled kind of bitterly,” But I’m kind of jealous. I’m sorry.” Tooru clapped him on the shoulder.

 

“Thank you for being honest,” Kenma said.

 

“I’m sure you get a cool gift from an alpha! It’s not mandatory, but usually alphas have courting gifts!” Noya exclaimed. Hinata cocked his head to the side.

 

“Really?” Hinata wondered.

 

“Yep!” Tooru chirped. Hinata felt a little better.

 

“Thank you,” Hinata muttered.

 

“No problem!” Noya said,” It must have been really hard for you to admit that! Good job!”

 

“You’re getting a lot better about stealing as of late, and I’m very proud of you,” Tooru said. Hinata smiled really big.

 

“Thanks! I’ve been trying really hard!” Hinata chirped. Tooru nodded at him and got up to move to the next group.

 

“Do you want to hold it?” Kenma offered.

 

“You would let me?” Hinata said, astonished. Kenma nodded, and undid the clasp. He dropped it into Hinata’s hand, and Hinata relished the feeling of the cool metal on his palm. He fiddled with it for a second, and then got it to open. Inside there was two beautiful ravenette young ladies, one clad in black and the other white. The black clad one stood behind the white clad one, resting her hand on the white clad one’s noticeably pregnant stomach.

 

“Kuroo’s parents,” Kenma explained,” He wanted me to have a picture of two of his other most important people, since I was now his most important person.”

 

“That’s so cute!” Noya exclaimed. Hinata gave Kenma back the necklace, smiling his thanks. Kenma nodded.

 

“Well, I spy that Suga has face masks, so I’m gonna go borrow that,” Noya said, jumping up. Hinata laughed.

 

“You mind if I put a bow in your ponytail?” Hinata asked. Kenma shook his head, and Hinata tied a red ribbon in his hair. Kenma smiled, and Noya came back with the face mask.

 

“Guys, we got this ‘Mask of Magnaminty’ thing,” Noya said. Hinata laughed at his puzzled face.

 

“Magnaminty means like, beautiful and noble of heart. Basically you stand up for others. Pusillanimity is it’s opposite,” Kenma explained.

 

“Cool!” Noya said. Hinata privately agreed. He wished he was magnaminty. But sadly, that was _not_ on his list of traits. Noya spread the face mask on with a brush Suga gave him, along with two thin slices of potatoes to his eyes. When Hinata gave a questioning look, Noya grinned.

 

“It reduces puffy eyes,” he explained.

 

“Oh,” Hinata said. They sat and chatted for about fifteen minutes, with Kenma remarking occasionally. After fifteen minutes, Noya washes Kenma’s mask off with the rag and picks up the makeup bag.

 

“Let’s see here,” Noya muttered. He pulled out a liquid black eyeliner pencil and began to apply to his eyelids.

 

“How in the world do you manage to do such perfect wings?” Hinata wondered,” I’ll never understand.”

 

“One of the seven wonders,” Noya grinned. Kenma shook his head and sighed. Hinata applied a bit of blush to his cheeks, and handed him some light lip stain. Kenma put it on, and Noya clapped.

 

“All done!” Hinata said.

 

“Do you want to go next Hinata?” Noya asked. Hinata looked at the basin uneasily. Get it over with or procrastinate? This is why he didn’t do these things very often!

 

“Uhm, I’ll go last,” he decided.

 

“Okay!” Noya said,” My turn then!” Hinata nodded. Kenma laid Noya down, and Hinata began to run his fingers through Noya’s hair. Noya hummed, and Kenma started to use the rag to clean him up. Hinata worked away some of the knots with his fingers, and grabbed the soap. He rubbed it into Noya’s hair.

 

“Hey Hinata?” Noya asked. Hinata hummed.

 

“Can you go get the red bottle of dye from my bag?” Noya said.

 

“I’ve got it,” Kenma said, and he got up and rummaged through the bag.

 

“Red?” Kenma asked.

 

“Yep!” Noya said.

 

“So what are we doing with it?” Hinata wondered.

 

“Kenma can you die my front bangs? Just the front. You know, the part that sort of hangs there?” Noya said. Kenma nodded. Hinata rinses his hair out, and Kenma is ready with a hair clip. He clips Noya’s front bangs away from the rest, and gives Noya a look. After Noya’s grin of affirmation, Kenma begins to die that chunk of his hair, over the ground, not the basin. Kenma dries off the rest of his hair, and clips the bangs out of the way. Hinata puts the rest of the dye up, and comes back to Kenma applying the face mask and potato slices. They wait, Kenma patiently, and Hinata and Noya not so patiently. After about fifteen minutes, Kenma washes the mask off, and applies eyeliner.

 

“Your eyes are perfect for this,” Kenma mutters. Noya laughs. Kenma offers Noya the lip stain, but declines with a grin. Hinata takes the clip out of his bangs, and brushes the rest of his hair back into a small ponytail similar to Kenma’s. Kenma buffs and files Noya’s nails, and Hinata paints them red, ‘to match his hair’.

 

“How does it look?” Noya wondered.

 

“Awesome!” Hinata said. Kenma pulls out a small compact mirror. Noya grins at his reflection.

 

“Cool!” he says,” Okay Hinata your turn!” Hinata gulps. He can do this.

 

“Okay…” Hinata says, and lays in front of the basin. He feels noya’s fingers scrape against his scalp, and he swallows thickly, tensing.

 

“Relax, okay?” Kenma says,” We’ve got you.” Hinata tries not to think about being dragged by the current deeper and deeper into the underground river, and not being able to swim back up as Noya washes his hair. He tries not to think about narrowly avoiding being raped by the alphas that chased him into said river as Kenma washes and massages lotion into his skin. He feels a bit better by the time the whole ordeal is over, and commends himself on managing not to throw up despite the queasiness in his stomach.

 

“What color do you want your nails?” Kenma asked.

 

“Black,” Hinata decides.

 

“Jeez, your nails are so long! Do you wanna cut them?” Noya asked. Hinata shook his head.

 

“I like them that way. Easier to defend myself. But can you try to sharpen them? I’ve always wanted to do that,” Hinata requests. Kenma and Noya exchange a look.

 

“We can try,” Kenma says finally. When they finish, his nails look so cool! They look like black claws, and Hinata is very satisfied.

 

“That looks _so_ wicked,” Noya says.

 

“I know right!” Hinata grins.

 

“Just keep them away from my eyeballs please,” Kenma remarks. Hinata rolls his eyes. Kenma brushes his hair and clips his bangs back with a plain black hair clip, and Noya applies eyeliner to his eyelids. Hinata chooses not to put anything on his cheeks or lips, and they begin to clean up the area. Noya goes to dump the water out, and Kenma and Hinata join the group of people that are finished. When they see him, they do a double take.

 

“Jeez Hinata! Scary!” Hanamaki teases.

 

“You nails look really cool!” Yamaguchi says.

 

“Thanks,” Hinata grins.

 

“Well, skipping how Hinata looks like he can and will kill a bitch right now, which we all know he would have no problem doing,” Tooru says, and Hinata shrugs,” Kenma, you look great!” They all agree, and Kenma smiles. When Noya comes back, everyone’s shocked at his cherry red bangs.

 

“Where did you even _get_ the dye?” Suga asks.

 

“Why did I leave you three alone?” Tooru says to himself. Kenma throw his hands up into the air as if to say ‘I didn’t do anything’, and Tooru notes _his_ bleached hair, and Kenma only shrugs in response.

 

“Is Keiji gonna play?” Ennoshita asked, and everyone brightened up. Akaashi grabbed his violin from it’s case and played a few songs. The music soothed the group, and some even danced! Hinata choose to hang back, brightly cheering Noya on from the sidelines, but enjoyed it all the same. It was mid-afternoon, and the sun was still high in the sky, when they all decided it was fine to go back to work. Tooru called on Kiyoko, and Kiyoko merely sighed when she saw the bunch.

 

“I’m not going to say anything,” Kiyoko said,” Except that you all look great.” Kiyoko calls on Daichi and Iwaizumi, and Tsukishima is out on patrol apparently. They start giving out jobs, and Noya basically has the same job, except now he delivers materials as well. Kenma is to help with the design of all the new buildings, Akaashi is the official tailor, Lev is given herding the animals, much to Yaku’s apparent relief. Hanamaki is building obviously, Kunimi was to be in charge of the storerooms, Ennoshita and Suga were placed with Yahaba, and they were put to the task of making a greenhouse so they could plant a garden to add to food availability. They agreed Tooru already had enough work for now, but when they got to Hinata, they were stumped.

 

“I mean, if we don’t know what he did, how can we decide where to put him?” Iwaizumi asked. Tooru harrumphed, and Kiyoko rubbed her temples.

 

“You can tell them,” Hinata says after a second, inspecting his nails very closely,” I don’t mind.”

 

“Are you sure Shou-chan?” Tooru asked quietly.

 

“Only if they promise not to judge,” Hinata says, shrugging. He could tell that the two alphas were think the worst, and even though it was most likely the wrong thing, what he did was still just as bad, if not worse. Probably thought he was a whore or something. As if.

 

“Shou-chan, well, Shou-chan wasn’t very nice when we adopted him,” Tooru begins,” He had worked since he was twelve as an assassin and a thief. He’s probably seen more blood spilt, and most likely caused it, than anyone here. He grew up in the slums, but I saved his life and he promised to try to stop his kleptomaniac tendencies. I took him and his sister in, and he’s been with us ever since.”

 

“What about the killing?” Daichi wondered.

 

“I couldn’t promise that, I had people who wanted me dead, and people I still had to get revenge on,” Hinata shrugged.

 

“You’re acting oddly casual about this,” Iwaizumi says.

 

“Well, what do you want me to do? Cry, bow, and ask for forgiveness?” Hinata hissed,” Because I won’t. I will not bow down, I will not be forced into submission. I will fight, and fight, and fight. That’s just who I am. I am not weak. And I refuse to pretend like I am. I refuse to pretend to be someone I’m not. And you know what? I may not define ‘good’, but I sure as hell try.” After this little spiel, he’s left panting slightly, and Tooru is looking at him with pride.

 

“Alright,” Iwaizumi says after a moment,” You’re not weak. So I’m gonna put you in the most demanding job I know. We’ve been needing more people, but even moreso now that the population has doubled. Kageyama! Get over here!”

 

“Oh, nice choice. I think he’ll do well,” Daichi says. Kageyama walks over, and he has a bow thrown over his shoulder and a quiver strapped to his back.

 

“Excellent, we caught you at a good time,” Daichi says,” Take Hinata with you and give him your knives. I want you to train him to be a hunter.” Kageyama looks like somebody just told him they murdered his mother.

 

“What? But the dumbass only drag me down!” Kageyama protested.

 

“Now, you can’t be sure of that-” Daichi begins, but Hinata’s already angry. Quick as lightning, he crouches, and swings his foot so that it unbalanced Kageyama, who topples over. He spots a knife strapped to his leg, grabs it and straddles him, then presses the blade the the alphas throat.

 

“I wouldn’t underestimate me, if I were you. It could lead it your inevitable downfall,” Hinata says, face darkening and smiling a little. It was his signature ‘fucking fear me’ look. Kageyama is wide-eyed and frozen, and everyone is speechless. He gets off of him, and checks the knife out. Nice blade, easy leather grip. He likes it. Kageyama picks himself up, and Daichi clears his throat.

 

“Guess that’s that then,” he says.

 

“Guess so,” Iwaizumi says.

 

“You know, sometimes, you terrify me,” Kiyoko says. Tooru merely grins.

 

“I like it,” Tooru says,” Leaves no room for argument. I like that.” Hinata shrugs with a grin.

 

“Let’s go, Bakayama,” Hinata says, and Kageyama scowls. Tooru snickers. Kageyama stomps towards the exit of the camp, and Hinata follows him.

  


♡                             ~                             ♡

  


“Okay, so obviously, you’re pretty good at disarming someone, but hunting is something different altogether. Listen up, because I’m only going to explain this once,” Kageyama practically growls,” You have to be quiet, and step lightly. You have to be patient. Tracking is especially difficult, so let me do that for now. I don’t know if you know how to do any of those things, but just let me do the work, you follow my lead.” Hinata frowned. Who did this guy think he was? A king? How dare he order him around! He would show him, but for now, he would feign cooperation.

 

“Fine,” he grits out, and Kageyama looks slightly satisfied. Fucker. Kageyama led him to the edge of the forest, and knelt down. He must have smelt something, because he whipped his head westward and took his bow off his shoulder. Hinata follows him, stepping as lightly as he would on the rooftops of Kasai, as to not alarm anything sleeping underneath. Kageyama gives him an approving look, and he ignores it, choosing to try and hone in on what Kageyama is sniffing the air for occasionally. Just when Hinata thinks he has it, Kageyama holds an arm out. He freezes, and Kageyama motions up. He wants him to climb the tree. Why the hell would he want that. Kageyama looks kind of panicked, so he does as he’s told, and climbs the tree, and Kageyama follows close behind.

 

“What are we doing?” Hinata whispers.

 

“Bear,” Kageyama whispers back,” Let’s hope it didn’t catch our scent.” A bear? What the fuck was a bear? As soon as he thinks this, a large, brown, powerful looking animal crashes through the undergrowth. It looks like it could snap him in half, but Hinata feels numb to the fear. He stopped being afraid a long time ago. Kageyama stiffens when the bear sniffs in their direction. But the bear passes right by, and Kageyama relaxes. Then, his knife slips from the holster. They watch, Kageyama in horror, and Hinata in indifference as the knife drops on the ground. Right on the bear’s head. The bear looks up, and roars.

 

“Shit,” Kageyama says, and the bear mauls the base of the tree, and it rocks violently.  Kageyama nocks an arrow into his bow, but Hinata’s faster. Hinata aims, and throws the second hunting knife. The knife embeds itself into the bear’s skull, and the bear collapses. Kageyama’s jaw drops in shock.

 

“Did I mention I can throw a knife with pinpoint accuracy?” Hinata smirks.

 

“No,” Kageyama mutters.

 

“Well, I can,” Hinata says. They climb down the tree, and as soon as Kageyama’s feet hit the ground, the tree splits, and falls over, making them both jump.

 

“You just killed a fucking bear,” Kageyama says finally.

 

“Yep,” Hinata chirps, putting his foot on the corpse’s neck.

 

“Why are you so casual about it?”

 

“Because, Kageyama,” Hinata sighs,” I don’t care. Death means nothing to me anymore.” Kageyama falls silent at his admission, and Hinata grips the knife handle, pulling up and pushing down with his foot. Damn it was in there good.

 

“Let me try,” Kageyama says, handing Hinata his bow. Hinata takes it from him.

 

“Go for it.” Kageyama grips the knife and pushes down on the neck, then pulls. Hinata watches appreciatively as his bare arms flex. Bad as the alpha’s personality was, he was good looking, he had to admit that. It slips out with a few seconds of straining, and Hinata whistles. Kageyama glares at him. He hands him the knife, and Hinata wipes it off on a fern and picks up the other knife.

 

“I have a horrible feeling you’ve done this before,” Kageyama says,” And not to a bear.”

 

“Oh yeah,” Hinata agrees easily,” Definitely. But we shouldn’t worry about that. Can we eat this?” Hinata gestures to the remains.

 

“Y-yeah. But I wouldn’t recommend it, honestly. We can definitely use the pelt and bones among other things though.”

 

“How are we going to take it back?”

 

“I dunno. I wasn’t the one who killed it.”

 

“Okay, let’s just come back for it, and go find something we can eat.”

 

“All the prey is probably scared off.”

 

“Don’t be so pessimistic! Lets just look around a little! I’m sure we’ll find something.”

 

“Tch. Whatever.”

 

“Eh? Don’t be a jerk! I will fight you!”

 

“I ain’t messing with that.” Hinata bursts out laughing.

 

“What?” he says, finally managing to calm his laughter.

 

“I’m not stupid. I don’t wanna end up like that bear.” Kageyama points and he looks totally serious.

 

“I’m glad you’re finally understanding now!” Hinata says, grinning. Kageyama grimaces.

 

“You’re face is totally scary!” Hinata exclaims.

 

“This is just my face! Dumbass!”

 

“Then smile a little!” Kageyama does.

 

“Fuck, go back. Don’t do that.”

 

“Shut up dumbass.” They fall silent, picking through the foliage, when Hinata spots something on Kageyama’s finger. It was silver, with a moon carved into it.

 

“Hey Kageyama?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“What’s on your finger?”

 

“...a ring.”

 

“That was a hesitant answer. What is it for?” Kageyama looks back at him, then at his hand.

 

“A reminder, and a promise,” he answers finally.

 

“A reminder of what?”

 

“That somewhere out there, there’s a sun to my moon,” Kageyama answers.

 

“Oh. What does that mean?”

 

“Do you believe in Soulmates?”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“When...when there’s a higher power somewhere and they give every soul someone else who’s made for them. So they’re destined to be together.” Silence falls.

 

“That’s a nice thought.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“...What’s the promise part?”

 

“Well, I have a necklace that goes with it. I’m going to give it to whomever I end up with as a courting gift. It’s a choker with a golden sun on it.”

 

“That’s pretty cool. Whoever ends up with you will be happy to have it.”

 

“You think?”

 

“Yeah.” And suddenly, he feels jealous again. He tries to write it off as him wanting the object, but his gut is telling him it’s something else. He’ll have to ask Tooru about it later. They don’t talk again, and Kageyama leads him to a small stream. They crouch, and Kageyama motions for him to wait. About thirty minutes later, when Hinata is feeling extremely fidgety, and feels like he can’t spend another second standing still, a brown, medium sized animal appears and dips its head to take a drink from the stream. Kageyama nocks and arrow into the bow, and aims. It hits the animal’s leg, and it begins to bleed profusely and run away. Kageyama gets up to run after it, and Hinata, taking cue, does the same. Hinata speeds up, almost so that he’s almost head to head with it, and jumps. The animal collapses under his weight, and he hears the legs break. He wraps his hands around it’s neck, and snaps it. Then he looks to Kageyama, who looks kind of shocked.

 

“You jump _really_ high,” Kageyama says.

 

“Yeah! It’s really useful when I’m playing volleyball! Like vwoom!” Hinata says, lighting up.

 

“You play volleyball!” Kageyama exclaims, and he looks excited now too.

 

“Yeah! Tooru got me into it! He said I needed to do something productive! I’m a spiker!”

 

“I’m a setter!”

 

“No way! Do you have a ball?”

 

“At my house.”

 

“Wanna send me a toss when we get back?” Hinata gets up, and starts bouncing on his heels.

 

“I don’t see why not.”

 

“Yes!” Hinata cheers. Kageyama picks up the animal, and starts to head toward where they left the bear.

 

“Hey, Yamayama?” Kageyama’s brows furrow, and he looks at him out of the corner of his eye.

 

“What, dumbass?”

 

“That’s not nice! But seriously, what is this animal called?” Kageyama stops and looks at him like he’s suddenly grown wings. Which would be so cool! Then he could fly! Like a bird!

 

“A deer.”

 

“Oh. Thanks!”

 

“Yeah…” Hinata bounces after him, and they reach the bear with no further comment. There’s a black bird resting on top of the bear, pecking at it. Kageyama shoos at it, but it only hops a couple of meters away. Hinata watches it out of the corner of his eye.

 

“Okay, I think I’m going to put this on top, and then we’ll drag them together. Oi! Are you listening!” Kageyama says. Hinata doesn’t answer, instead chooses to crouch at stare directly at the bird.

 

“What are you doing?” Hinata ignores him again, takes his knife and cuts a chunk of meat off of the deer. He gets on all fours and crawls close to the bird. He hears Kageyama make a choking noise behind him, but pays no mind. The bird still doesn’t fly away. Then Hinata sees it. The right wing is clotted with dry blood, and he realizes it’s hurt. He carefully holds out the meat, and the bird scoots away. He keeps still, waiting with a bated breath. Then, the bird edges closer. It starts to eat from his hand, and Hinata, quick as a flash, grabs it, mindful of it’s hurt wing, but it still squawks anyway. He gets up and hugs it to his chest.

 

“You can’t keep it, we have to carry this back!” Kageyama tells him. Hinata looks up at him, and he’s never been more grateful for his size than in that moment, and pouts, eyes widening and filling with tears.

 

“You won’t let me keep it Yamayama?” Hinata positively whimpers. And Kageyama turns as red as Noya’s bangs, and Hinata finally understands why Tooru gets so much vindictive pleasure from demolishing someone’s resolve.

 

“I hate you, ya know that? Now I’m gonna have to carry this all by myself,” Kageyama grumbled,” And I wasn’t even the one that killed it!”  

 

“You’re strong! I know you can handle it!” Hinata says, beaming. Kageyama frowns and starts dragging the carcass by the front paws. It takes them nearly an hour of Hinata cheering Kageyama on and incessant squawking from the bird, by they make it to the camp entrance, and Kageyama collapses.

 

“Oh, you guys are just in time, that took longer-Kageyama are you okay? IS THAT A FUCKING BEAR?” Daichi says,” IWAIZUMI, GET OVER HERE!” Hinata just stands there laughing, and Kageyama only musters enough strength to raise his head and glare at him.

 

“Holy shit!” Iwaizumi says, and suddenly Kiyoko, Iwaizumi, Kyoutani, and Daichi are all picking it up and carrying it into camp. Bokuto picks Kageyama up off the ground, and they all meet at a campfire in the center. Bokuto deposits Kageyama under a tree, and jogs back to the entrance.

 

“Okay,” Tsukishima says,” Explain.”

 

“Well, we climbed a tree, and a bear tried to maul us and I threw my knife at it’s skull, and killed it. Then we went and hunted a dear, and I found this hurt bird and wanted to take it home, right? But I couldn’t let it go! So I convinced Yamayama to carry the whole thing without me, and well, now here we are,” Hinata rattled off.

 

“Oh, I think he’d be good at hunting, I said, Give him a knife I said, and now look, he comes home with _a fucking bear, like what the fuck_ ,” Daichi says hysterically.

 

“Can we eat it?” Kiyoko wonders.

 

“We could, but I wouldn’t recommend it,” Iwaizumi says,” But it’s still very useful.”

 

“You’re so tiny though, how the hell?” Kyoutani says.

 

“Honestly, I’m still trying to figure that out and I saw it with my own two eyes. He also ran head to head with the deer, jumped on it’s back, and snapped it’s neck,” Kageyama says.

 

“It’s legs broke too!” Hinata chirps.

 

“Okay, uhm, while I try to process the situation, Kageyama, you look like living death, are you alright?” Daichi says. Kageyama only groans.

 

“He’s gonna feel that one in the morning,” Iwaizumi grimances. Hinata laughs.

 

“Hey, do you know where Yachi or Yamaguchi are?” Hinata asks.

 

In the grove I think, but-” Tsukishima says, and he doesn’t stick around to hear the rest. When he gets there, everyone but Yaku and Hanamaki was lying about, glad to be done with the day’s work. When he enters, Tooru and Noya jump up.

 

“How did it go?” Tooru asks.

 

“What is that in your hands?” Noya asks.

 

“No time, Yachi! Yamaguchi!” Hinata calls.

 

“Are you okay?” Yachi says, hurrying to his side.

 

“I’m fine, I’m fine, but this bird isn’t! Can you help me?” Hinata pleds.

 

“Of course, what’s the problem?” Yamaguchi asks.

 

“I don’t know, something is wrong with it’s wing,” Hinata replies. Yachi takes the bird carefully from his grasp, and they inspect it.

 

“Well, good news is, I don’t think it’s broken, It’s just a flesh wound. And it’s young, so if you feed it and train it now, it might follow you for the rest of it’s life,” Yamaguchi says.

 

“Really?” Hinata asks.

 

“What kind of bird is it?” Tooru asks.

 

“A crow,” Yamaguchi answers. Hinata’s face lights up.

 

“You should give it a name,” Yachi says.

 

“Okay,” Hinata says, and thinks for a moment,” Yami.”

 

“Darkness?” Tooru asked,” Why that?”

 

“To remind myself,” Hinata said.

 

“Of what?” Yachi asked.

 

“To not succumb to my demons. To not fall into that dark place again,” Hinata said.  

 

“That’s beautiful,” Yamaguchi says.

 

“Thank you,” Hinata beams.

 

“I’ll go patch this guy up for you, okay? We’ll be right back,” Yachi says, and Hinata nods. They leave, and Tooru and Noya turn on Hinata again.

 

“So?” Tooru says.

 

“I mean nothing really eventful happened,” Hinata shrugs.

 

“ _Not really eventful my ass you killed a bear!_ ” Tsukishima says, entering the grove.

 

“Whoa! Whats a bear?” Noya jumps up.

 

“An animal the size of a small house,” Kiyoko says, following from right behind him.

 

“WHOA! I wanna see!” Noya shouts.

 

“Wow,” Tooru says,” It was successful I take it?”

 

“You could say I left an impression that won’t be lifting anytime soon,” Hinata grins. Tooru laughs, and hugs him.

 

“I’m proud of you!” Tooru tells him, and he beams at the praise.

 

“Yaku says thanks by the way,” Kiyoko mutters.

 

“Is that a sarcastic thanks, or?” Tooru says.

 

“Sarcastic. Definitely sarcastic,” Kiyoko responds. Hinata giggles.

 

“He convinced Kageyama to do all the heavy lifting, and the guy carried it all the way by himself,” Tsukishima says.

 

“Good job!” Tooru says. Hinata beams.

 

“Oh great Savior,” Kiyoko murmurs, rubbing her temples,” Anyway, go to the campfire. Dinner’s almost ready.”

 

“Food!” Noya and Hinata say in unison.

 

“Hinata!” Yamaguchi calls. Hinata looks over to see Yami with a little bandage around it’s wing. Yamaguchi hands him the bird carefully.

 

“Okay, so make sure to bring him into the healing hut everyday so we can change the bandage. Make sure she doesn’t move around too much, oh and did I mention it’s a girl?” Yamaguchi says.

 

“Nope! But it’s nice to know!” Hinata chirps. Noya tugs him along, and they set off towards the center of camp. When they get there, the bear is gone, but the deer doesn’t have it’s skin or head anymore, and it’s over the fire.

 

“Hinata!” Yaku calls.

 

“Yes?” Hinata says.

 

“Why?” Yaku said desperately.

 

“Why what?”

 

“Why a _whole goddamn bear_? Do you know how long that’s going to take to prepare?”

 

“Uhm, no.”

 

“A _week_.”

 

“I’m sorry!” Hinata bows.

 

“It’s fine,” Yaku sighs,” But do you want the skin? They decided they you were entitled to it since you killed it.”

 

“What would I do with it?” Hinata wondered.

 

“I don’t know whatever you wanted, really. A carpet, a blanket, a wall decoration, have Akaashi make it into some sort of clothing,” Yaku listed. Hinata like the idea of wearing the bear.

 

“Okay! Thank you!” Hinata said.

 

“No problem. Who is this little guy?” Yaku asked.

 

“Girl. This is Yami. I had Yamaguchi and Yachi patch her up for me!” Hinata said.

 

“Cool! See if you can get her to sit on your shoulder without flying away. That would be so cool,” Yaku said, petting Yami’s head. Hinata nodded.

 

“I’m gonna go talk to Akaashi about that skin now! Thank you again!” Hinata said. Yaku nodded, and left to go talk to Asahi.

 

“Akaashi!” Hinata called.

 

“Yes Shouyou?” Akaashi says.

 

“Have you seen the bear yet?” Hinata asks.

 

“I did see it, yes,” Akaashi assures him.

 

“Do you think you could make me something out of it?” Hinata requests.

 

“Sure. It might be hard to make anything other than a cloak though,” Akaashi says.

 

“That’s fine! That sounds cool actually!” Hinata exclaims.

 

“I saw it, and there’s enough to make two. Would you like that?” Akaashi asks.

 

“Uhn...Actually! That’s a good idea! But can you make one a bit bigger than the other?” Hinata says.

 

“Sure. Which one do you want to have the bear head hood?” Akaashi says.

 

“The smaller one please!” Hinata says,” Thank you!”

 

“No problem. It’s my first job with an animal skin, so I’m actually quite excited,” Akaashi says.

 

“Good luck!” Hinata tells him.

 

“You too, Shouyou,” Akaashi says. Hinata bounces away towards the tree Kageyama is still under.

 

“Hey Yamayama!” He calls. Kageyama opens one eye and scowls.

 

“What?”

 

“Guess what?”

 

“I don’t feel like guessing right now.”

 

“Oh. Well, Akaashi’s making me a cloak out of the bear skin!”

 

“Good for you.”

 

“And there’s enough to make a second one.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yep! And so I thought I would give you the second one because you worked so hard! So, good job, okay?”

 

“Wait, seriously?”

 

“Yep! I even requested he make one bigger than the other! You know, so it would be big enough for you! I get the bear head hood though!”

 

“...Thanks.”

 

“No problem! But you have to toss to me! You don’t have to do it right now, because I know you’re sore, but definitely later!”

 

“Alright.”

 

“Okay! Did you want me to get you some food?”

 

“Please?”

 

“On it! Just hold Yami for me, okay?”

 

“Okay.” Hinata handed him the bird, and skipped to go get food. Suga wordlessly gives him two bowls, and Hinata gives him a grateful look. He takes them back, and finds Kageyama talking to Yami. It was kind of cute.

 

“You’re a really pretty bird do you know that? I’m surprised you’re letting me hold you without a fuss. Kuroo used to have a cat, and the thing liked everyone else but me! It was ridiculous!” Kageyama said.

 

“Kageyama, are you talking to her?” Hinata giggled.

 

“N-no! Of course not dumbass!” Kageyama blushed.

 

“S’okay. I’ll keep your secret. You’re actually a huge dork.”

 

“I am not!”

 

“I think it’s cute.”

 

“What?”

 

“You heard me.”

 

“You are a very confusing person.”

 

“Thank you, I guess? Here’s your food.” Hinata put Kageyama’s bowl in his lap and sat down. He put his own bowl next to him, and reaches out for Yami. Kageyama gently hands her over and begins to eat. Hinata looks at the bird, and then his bowl. How was he going to do this? Then he remembers Yaku tell him to train the bird to sit on his shoulder. Hinata takes a piece of meat from the bowl and feeds it to Yami. She eats it right up. Then he puts a piece of meat on his shoulder, ignoring the look Kageyama gives him. Yami stares at it. Hinata lets her go. She jumps right onto his shoulder, and eats the meat. Then settles right there, and nips his ear for more. He tosses some, and she catches it. He eats some himself, occasionally tossing her meat to keep her placated.

 

“That is so wicked!” Hinata looks up to an excited looking Noya and grins.

 

“Thanks. But don’t scare her,” he says.

 

“Okay! But dude you look so cool right now! With like, black claws and a wicked looking bird sitting on your shoulder,” Noya says,” The eyeliner totally helps, if I do say so myself!”

 

“Is that what’s different about your eyes?” Kageyama asked.

 

“Yeah. I’m surprised you noticed,” Hinata says.

 

“Of course I noticed. It’s a good look, I like it,” Kameyama huffs.

 

“Thank you, I guess?” Hinata says. Noya raises an eyebrow at him.

 

“What?” Hinata asks him.

 

“Oh, nothing!” Noya chirps, and he walks away towards Tooru. They whisper for a little bit, and Noya points in his direction. Hinata looks away when he sees Tooru staring at him knowingly. What does he know, anyway?

  


♡                             ~                             ♡

  


**_One Week Later_ **

 

Hinata had spent the week hunting and occasionally playing volleyball with Kageyama. He also taught Yami to stay on his shoulder while he was walking, and he got the go ahead to take her bandages off. She was allowed to fly around in another week or so! When she starts flying, Hinata wants to teach her to bring stuff to him, and use her to help him hunt. Kageyama gave him the idea for the last one. Yachi even told him that crows are more intelligent than some birds. How cool was that?

 

“Hinata!” a voice startled Hinata out of his thoughts, and he immediately crouched into the hunting position Kageyama had taught him a few days ago, knife drawn. When he saw it was only Akaashi, he relaxed, and sheathed his knife into the sheathe that Daichi had made from the bone of the bear.

 

“Somebody’s a little jumpy,” Akaashi smiled softly. Hinata grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his sneck.

 

“Kageyama has been driving hunting instincts through my head lately, and that paired with my past, I’m just sort of suspicious of loud noises in general? But he’s also started to teach me how to track, and I’m completely sure all of my senses have gotten better in general, so that’s a bonus I guess,” Hinata explained.

 

“That sounds like fun,” Akaashi told him,” I would love to stay and hear about it, but I’m just so busy, but I’ve got about forty-five minutes right now, and I really wanted to be there when you saw them, because I worked so hard. I’m really sorry about not being able to chat, but guess what?”

 

“What?” Hinata asked.

 

“I’ve finished the cloaks,” Akaashi smiles,” And just in time too. Iwaizumi told Yaku and me it’s going to snow soon.”

 

“What’s snow?” Hinata asked.

 

“Well, you know when you have a freezer, and there’s that white stuff that collects on your hand when you swipe across the side, and it melts really quickly?” Akaashi says,” That falls from the sky and builds up and doesn’t melt. That’s snow.”

 

“But it’s so cold!” Hinata says.

 

“Lucky I just finished those cloaks then, huh?” Akaashi says.

 

“Definitely! Thank you so much! Can I see them now?” Hinata bounces from heel to heel.

 

“Yes yes, come on follow me,” Akaashi says, and they walk towards Yaku’s home at the waterfall. Lev is sitting not too far away, patching holes in the roof of the winter stable. Hinata waves to him, and Lev raises the hammer to wave back but when he does, it flies out of his hands, falls through the roof, and makes another hole. Lev visibly sags. Hinata and Akaashi laugh. Hinata places Yami on his shoulder, and they walk into Yaku’s house, and find him in the back.

 

“Oh, is it time? I want to be there!” Yaku says. Akaashi smiles and gestures him into the other room.

 

“I know it’s a mess, but I’m still taking stock, and I had to push away some things so Akaashi could work. One of the builders top priorities before the first snow hits is to make him a house so he has space to make and store us all winter things,” Yaku sighs.

 

“What’s the other one?” Hinata wondered.

 

“Shelter for everyone and a greenhouse,” Akaashi answers. Hinata nods. That makes sense.

 

“Okay, here it is!” Akaashi says, and hands Hinata two folded, furry, brown, garments.

 

“The smaller one’s on top,” Akaashi adds. Hinata puts the pile down on a stool, and picks up the first one. It unfolds when he shakes it, and his whole face lights up. It’s awesome, thick and warm looking, with a metal clasp, and the bear hood.

 

“Well, put it on! We want to see how it looks on you!” Yaku said. Hinata grabbed Yami and handed her to Akaashi before complying, undoing the clasp and swinging it around in one smooth motion. He redoes the clasp, and warmth immediately settles on his shoulders. It’s the perfect length, long enough to where it covers his feet, but not too long to the point where he’ll trip over it. He pulls the hood up, and it covers his head well, but not so much that it hinders his vision.

 

“It’s perfect,” Hinata grins, and Akaashi’s shoulders sag with relief.

 

“I thought I would mess it up somehow,” Akaashi admits.

 

“Nope!” hinata shakes his head,” Perfect! Just like always!” Akaashi smiles.

 

“Now that that’s over with, I have a surprise for you. I may not make clothes very well, but everyone agrees I make the best shoes. I layered a bunch of leather, and then covered the inside and out with the scraps of bear hide, so now I have a pair of boots for you too! Akaashi told me your size, so don’t worry they’ll fit,” Yaku says confidently, reaching behind a stack of cloth, and handing him a pair of boots. Hinata takes his own shoes off and slips them on. They’re super warm! And light!

 

“Thank you so much! These are great you guys! Perfect for hunting!” Hinata chirps, and Yami caws from Akaashi’s shoulder.

 

“See even Yami’s given her approval! And she’s picky!” Hinata says, then gives them both hugs, even though he doesn’t like to do that much, he doesn’t know any other way to show his gratitude right now.

 

“It’s no problem!” Yaku says,” Seeing you this happy was totally worth the effort!” Akaashi nods In agreement.

 

“What are you going to do with the other one?” Akaashi asks.

 

“Give it to Kageyama,” Hinata shrugs,” As far as I’m concerned, he kinda deserves it. And plus these are really warm and I can’t have my hunting partner getting sick, right?” Akaashi and Yaku exchange a look.

 

“Of course!” Yaku says,” Now why don’t you go give it to him? I’d hate to kick you out, but we have a lot of work to be done.” Akaashi hums in agreement, and hand Yami back to Hinata. Hinata puts her on his shoulder, and grabs the other cloak. He races out of the home, shouting thank you’s over his shoulder. He runs all the way to Kageyama’s hut and knocks on the door. He’s waiting when Bokuto walks past.

 

“Are you waiting for Kageyama? Because he’s at the storerooms with the leaders. Oh, and that cloak is so cool!” Bokuto says.

 

“Thanks!” Hinata grins, and he dashes off towards the store rooms. He gets there, and sure enough, Iwaizumi, Daichi, Kiyoko, Tsukishima are there, along with Kunimi and Kageyama.

 

“Yamayama!” Hinata shouts.

 

“What you want, dumbass? Can’t you see I’m busy?” Kageyama barks. Hinata chooses to ignore his rudeness.

 

“Look!” Hinata says, and everyone looks over at him, clad in the bear hide clothing.

 

“That’s wonderful, Shouyou,” Kiyoko says, pushing her glasses up. Hinata sakes the other cloak open and undoes the clasp. Then he drapes it over Kageyama’s shoulders, and redoes the clasp. He steps back to admire his handy work. The cloak is the perfect size for him, and even though his hood isn’t as cool as Hinata’s, it still looks pretty good.

 

“As promised! They’re perfect for hunting! And check it out, they made these boots for me out of the scraps!” Hinata exclaimed, stomping his feet to emphasize his point.

 

“That’s really cool. And thanks,” Kageyama sighs.

 

“No problem! Now, I’m gonna go show Tooru! See you later Yamayama!” Hinata said and dashed out of the room. He slowed down right before he reached the grove, and sat down under a tree. Yami flew to a low branch and began to preen her wings. He pulled his knees to his chest, and hid his face, pulling down his hood. Only then did he allow himself to blush. Kageyama didn’t even yell at him as much! That meant he liked it! He mentally cursed himself for behaving like a blushing schoolgirl, but he couldn’t help it! And plus Kageyama looked great! Kind of...powerful. A shiver went through Hinata he huffed. This whole crush nonsense really had to stop. Like Kageyama would ever like him enough to actually want to be with him! Hinata sighed, and curled up tighter.

 

“Hinata?” Hinata looked up to see Tooru’s face.

 

“Ah ha! I thought I that was your scent, but all I could see was bear!” Tooru joked. Hinata smiled ruefully.

 

“What’s wrong Shou-chan?” Tooru said, sitting next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

 

“Don’t lie to me,” Tooru says when he sees the look on Hinata’s face,” You promised.” Hinata sighs. He’s regretting his whole life right now.

 

“I’m pretty sure I have a crush on Kageyama, and it’s not going away,” Hinata frowns. Tooru blinks at him.

 

“Well damn, I expected I was going to have to make you realize you have a crush, not that you’ve already noticed, and not only noticed but accepted it. You’re becoming more in tune with your feelings, Shou-chan,” Tooru praises.

 

“Doesn’t help my problem,” Hinata huffs.

 

“But it helps mine,” Tooru grins mischievously.

 

“What?” Hinata asks, narrowing his eyes.

 

“I want to extend an offer of courtship and-no listen to me!” Tooru says fiercely,” I can and I will. You like him, and so there’s nothing to do but ask and hope for the best.”

 

“But what if he rejects me?” Hinata worries,” I won’t ever be able to look him in the eye again!”

 

“And why would he reject you?”

 

“Because, I’m _me_.”

 

“I think he likes you.”

 

“What makes you say that?”

 

“The way he looks at you. Some of the things he says about you. His body language.”

 

“Sometimes it’s _you_ that terrifies me. How do you tell these things?”

 

“I may not like people, but I’m good with them.”

 

“I’m gonna quote that someday.”

 

“Go for it.”

 

“...Okay, Alright, fine!”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Alright, come on.” Tooru gets up and offers his hand, and Hinata takes it. Tooru pulls him up, and he brushes himself off. Got to look presentable, right? Hinata whistles, and Yami hops onto his shoulder. They walk to the storeroom, and Hinata leads, because Tooru doesn’t know where Kageyama is. When they get there, there are more people, so they’re spilling out into the sunlight. Kageyama is there, talking with Kuroo. Tooru claps his hand on his shoulder.

 

“I wouldn’t blame you if you hid,” Tooru tells him.

 

“I just don’t want to watch him reject me,” Hinata murmurs.

 

“He’s not going to reject you, trust me. But that’s why I’m the one to ask. It alleviates the stress. So just let me deal with this, okay?” Tooru says seriously. Hinata nods, and hides behind a thick gathering of trees. He watches Tooru go up to them.

 

“Kageyama! I need to speak with you!” Tooru says cheerfully.

 

“Well this can’t be good,” he hears Iwaizumi say.

 

“Good luck kid,” Kuroo chuckles darkly, clasping his hand on Kageyama’s shoulder,” Whatever he says is going to break you, but let’s hope some good comes out of it.”

 

“That isn’t concerning at all,” Daichi says.   


“I actually have an offer for you!” Tooru says. Holy shit it’s happening. Is he allowed to have second thoughts about this? Because he’s having second thoughts about this.

 

“Oh, there it is,” Kiyoko says.

 

“Oikawa’s infamous line,” Tsukishima said snarkily.

 

“Oh, be quiet!” Tooru snapped. Surprisingly enough, they all comply. Kageyama looks rather pale. Why does he look pale? Is he sick? Hinata has half a mind to jump out to check on him, but years of hiding among the shadows and fear of rejection holds him back.

 

“So, you know very well if you accept, I’ll destroy you if you hurt them, right?” Tooru begins. Way to go, Tooru, you’re gonna scare him off. Kageyama nods.

 

“Okay then,” Tooru takes a deep breath,” I would like to offer a courtship over Shouyou.” Kageyama’s mouth fall open, and everyone shows varying degrees of surprise. Shouyou whips around, he can’t stand to watch!

 

“I’ll give you-” Tooru says, but Kageyama cuts him off.

 

“I accept!” he says, and Hinata’s whole body freezes, his mind working overtime. Everyone cheers.

 

“Well then, that was quick,” Tooru says,” Shou-chan? You there?” Hinata slowly comes out from behind the tree, face blank. Yami squawks, as if sensing his overflow of emotions. Kageyama’s whole face is red, and Tooru takes Hinata’s arm and shoves him towards Kageyama. Hinata rocks back and forth on his heels.

 

“So-”

 

“I-” They try to speak at the same time.

 

“You go first. No, you go first!” they say in unison. They pause for a moment, and Yami flaps her wings.

 

“Ah! Dumbass!” Kageyama says, and musses his hair, but he looks more embarrassed than angry. He pulls something out of pocket and offers it to Hinata. Hinata takes it, and it’s a thick, black velvet ribbon of a choker, with a intricate gold sun hanging from it.

 

“I guess you’re the sun to my moon,” Kageyama tells him. And he feels so, _so_ happy right in that moment that he just begins to cry, clutching the necklace, just let the sobs wrack his body. Yami takes off and flaps somewhere, but Hinata trusts Tooru to watch her for him.

 

“B-bakayama!”  he cries, and throws his arms around Kageyama’s neck, and just hangs there crying. He feels stupid for crying about it, but he just can’t help it! He feels Kageyama wrap his arms around him and rock him gently. Everything else fades away, and it feels like it’s just them. Just Kageyama, holding him. When he steps back, everyone is gone, and he hasn’t felt this relieved since Tooru pulled him out of that river. Kageyama takes the necklace from him, and pulls back his hood. The wind is cold against Hinata’s tear-stained cheeks. Kageyama puts the necklace on him, and it’s a perfect fit. They smile, and Hinata pulls his hood back up with one hand and fiddles with the sun with the other. Kageyama offers Hinata his hand, and Shouyou looks at it for a second, and then delicately slips his hand onto Kageyama’s palm, interlocking their fingers.

 

“You didn’t have to cry about it, dumbass,” Kageyama says fondly. Hinata only smiles. The insult was more of an endearment at this point, and he decides he doesn’t mind it.

 

“You didn’t have to be so sappy, Yamayama. You practically just called me your Soulmate,” Hinata grins.

 

“Shut up,” Kageyama says, blushing, and they walk away, towards the forest to get the day’s hunt, cloaks brushing together, keeping out the creeping cold.

  
  
♡                             ~                             ♡


	4. Plants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There is no thing going on with Oikawa,” Hajime retorts. Kyoutani sighs. Can’t he just like, Hibernate through the winter? That would be so much better than having to deal with this crap. Maybe he could borrow Kageyama’s new cloak and pretend he was a bear. Bears were cool.
> 
>  
> 
> In which this is that one chapter that Kyoutani wishes he were a bear. Same.

"Aw come on they didn't kiss?" Kuroo said," That's a rip off!" Yami squawks. Kyoutani wants to try holding her, but doesn’t know how to ask. 

 

"Hush Yami!" Oikawa says," What's a soulmate anyway?" 

 

"Basically the person you're destined to be with, right from birth," Hajime answered.

 

"Oh," Oikawa said," Well then in that case, that was extremely romantic, and I give kudos."

 

"But they didn't kiss!” Kyoutani complains, and he doesn’t know why, but he is very upset about this.

 

“I know!” Kuroo agrees, and he feels just a little bit better.

 

“I, for one, agree with Oikawa,” Kiyoko says. Tsukishima hums in agreement, and the conversation is closed with a sense of finality. They disperse, and Kyoutani goes back to work. He climbs up the other ladder and helps a struggling Matsukawa place the final beam for the ceiling. 

 

“Thanks,” Matsukawa gives him a grateful look. Kyoutani grunts in response. 

 

“So, why are you so cranky now?” Matsukawa asks him. Kyoutani sighs and sets down his hammer. 

 

“Okay, so you know how all us builders were betting on Kagehina? And we had the bet against Hanamaki and Asahi that they would kiss?” Kyoutani says.

 

“Yeah…?”

 

“They didn’t kiss.” 

 

“Fuck!”

 

“I know!”

 

“I’m gonna have to deal with Hanamaki’s gloating now, dammit.” Matsukawa grumbled,” And I can’t believe I missed it!”

 

“Well I can tell you this,” Kyoutani says,” I never thought the kid had it in him!” 

 

“Details later,” Matsukawa waves his hammerless hand at him,” I want to get this roof on before sunhigh.” Kyoutani groaned in agreement. They were almost done! So close! Asahi was already making furniture! They worked, Kyoutani climbing down and handing Matsukawa boards to hang across the roof as Matsukawa nailed them in, slathering clay for a water sealant. They were gonna run out of nails, honestly. Matsukawa, sensing his thoughts, looked down at him.

 

“Narita and Kinoshita should be coming in with a new shipment any day now.” Kyoutani’s shoulders relaxed. Okay, so maybe they were going to make this. He grabbed the canvas bag of wooden shingles he spent a close four hours making last night and climbed onto the newly placed roof. He then started to place them in the still-wet clay as fast Matsukawa could put the clay down. They finished within a hour, and jumped down. Then Kyoutani took the heavy blankets that Yaku had given them and started to nail them to the boards for installation. As soon as he put a blanket up, Matsukawa would place wooden boards. They were a good team. Two hours passed, and they finished this too. Kyoutani stood back to admire his handy work, swinging his hammer a little. 

 

“Should we tell Asahi it’s done?” Matsukawa says. 

 

“Yeah, but we have to do the thing,” Kyoutani tells him. Matsukawa laughs, and they go out and climb the ladders again. On the very right corner of the right side of the roof, Kyoutani carves his initials into the shingle. On the left side, the middle row, seven up, Matsukawa carves his initials into the shingle. Just as they’re coming down, Asahi shows up. 

 

“This is great!” he tells them. Matsukawa grins, and Kyoutani huffs in embarrassment. 

 

“I was afraid you would be rusty, but that is clearly not the case,” Asahi tells them,” Okay, so this one is for Akaashi, and I have a whole lot of cabinets and a table with a chair ready. I’m making the bed right now. So can you go get those while I tell him his house is ready? I want him to have time to move his stuff out of Yaku-san’s place.” Kyoutani nods.

 

“Oh, and I know I won, I heard it from Daichi,” Asahi calls after them, and Kyoutani curses softly as they jog away towards the cave they made their workshop. Kyoutani grabs two of the cabinets next to the half-finished bed, and Matsukawa grabs a cabinet and the chair. They make three trips getting everything there, and by the time they’ve set the table in the kitchen area, Akaashi is walking through the door. He sets his things on the table and gives them a smile. 

 

“Thank you,” he tells them, and they shrug, and Kyoutani tries not to blush.

 

“Just doin’ our job,” Matsukawa says, and points to the cabinets,” Do you know where you want these?”

 

“Uhm, yes actually, can you put them in the biggest bedroom?” Akaashi requests. They start bringing them there, lining them up on the walls. Akaashi nods his thanks, and Yaku comes in with a stool, some hooks, and some more sewing stuff. He hands Akaashi the stool and sets the stuff down. 

 

“Can you put these up in his workshop please?” Yaku asks him, and wordlessly, Kyoutani grabs them and nails the hooks in place wherever Akaashi points. 

 

“We’ll be coming in with the bed later,” Matsukawa says, and they nod. Kyoutani and Matsukawa leave, and Asahi is waiting for them. 

 

“Okay, so we’ve already finished the big house,” Asahi starts,” And Hanamaki is working on Kiyoko’s home right now. I need you two to go help him out while I get finished with that bed. I’m gonna go check on how those greenhouses are doing later, but for now I need that home done.” 

 

“On it boss,” Matsukawa salutes, and Asahi sputters.

 

“I-I didn’t mean to boss you around!” Asahi exclaims. 

 

“He’s joking,” Kyoutani rolls his eyes. Asahi sighs and walks away. They jog over to Hanamaki’s project, and he’s already putting in the roof. 

 

“Damn,” Matsukawa muttered,” He works fast.” Kyoutani nods. He was pretty strong too. 

 

“Need some help?” Matsukawa pops the ‘p’. Hanamaki groans in frustration. 

 

“Please!” he says,” I cannot get these boards up! I would be able to work better if they would just  _ work with me _ !” 

 

“Hanamaki,” Matsukawa deadpans,” They’re  _ boards _ . They don’t have brains. They certainly don’t have ears. They’re not going to listen to you.” Kyoutani snorts.

 

“Well maybe you’re the one without a brain or ears,” Hanamaki retorts,” Because I told you to come over here and help me!” Nice one.

 

“Yes sir!” Matsukawa jokes. And they start pushing up boards. Kyoutani grabs the bucket of clay, and climbs up and starts laying it down. Matsukawa puts wooden shingles wherever Kyoutani swathes in clay, and Hanamaki has already finished laying the roof down. 

 

“I’m gonna go put up the insulation, I’ll see you slowpokes later,” Hanamaki says, disappearing inside. He sees Matsukawa roll his eyes, and he shakes his head. They get done with the roof, and Kyoutani can hear Hanamaki still hammering from inside. 

 

“Dude,” Matsukawa says after a second.

 

“What?” Kyoutani answers. 

 

“Don’t you think Hanamaki is kinda pretty?” Matsukawa blurted. Kyoutani blinks at him.

 

“I dunno man,” Kyoutani says,” I’m horrible at this feelings shit, you know that.”

 

“You and Iwaizumi both,” Matsukawa rolls his eyes,” You can definitely tell ya’ll are brothers.” Kyoutani shrugs.

 

“Well do you think he’s pretty?” Kyoutani finally asks. 

 

“Yeah,” Matsukawa says,” It’s kinda driving me insane.”

 

“Well good luck with that,” Kyoutani says, clapping him on the shoulder and pointing to the bandage on his nose,” If you’ve already forgiven him for breaking your nose, then you’re probably already whipped.” Matsukawa shoves him. They get down from the ladder, and enter the house. Hanamaki is putting the last of the insulation up, and he turns to them.

 

“After this, can you guys finish up?” Hanamaki asks,” I’ve got to go talk to someone, I just remembered.” Kyoutani privately thinks it’s a weak excuse, and spots that Hanamaki’s ears are slightly red, but Matsukawa shrugs. 

 

“Sure but you have to come back,” he says to Hanamaki. 

 

“Why?” Hanamaki tilts his head. Kyoutani’s eyes widen.

 

“Dude, he doesn’t know about the thing?” Matsukawa says,” You had  _ one job,  _ Asahi! _ One job _ !” 

 

“What thing?” Hanamaki asks. 

 

“Well, after we finish each project, we sign our name somewhere,” Kyoutani says.

 

“Artists liberty,” Matsukawa says. 

 

“Oh,” Hanamaki says,” Then I’ll come back later I guess?” 

 

“We’ll wait for you,” Matsukawa nods to him. Hanamaki leaves, and they finish the walls. When they’re done, Hanamaki is walking up with none other than Oikawa in tow. Hanamaki gestures for Oikawa to wait, and jogs up to them. 

 

“Okay, let’s blow this popsicle stand,” Hanamaki jokes, and Matsukawa snickers. 

 

“Stop it with the old man jokes,” Matsukawa teases.

 

“You would know,” Hanamaki retorts,” You’re an old man yourself, aren’t you?” Oh, please, get a room. Even Kyoutani recognizes they’re blatantly flirting, and so does Oikawa, judging by the calculating look on his face as he watches them. They climb up onto the roof, and sign random shingles. They get down, and Oikawa approaches them. 

 

“Hiya Matsukawa!” he chirps. Uh oh. Kyoutani call tell Matsukawa is thinking the same thing, because his face pales. Kyoutani claps him on the shoulder and walks away. Funnily enough, Hanamaki follows him. Kyoutani raises an eyebrow at him. 

 

“What you followin’ me for? Shouldn’t you be back there?” Kyoutani jerks his head in Matsukawa’s direction. Hanamaki shrugs.

 

“That obvious huh,” he sighs,” Will you wait with me? This is nerve wracking, and I don’t want to be alone right now.”

 

“I guess,” Kyoutani says. They wait a ways away to where they can’t hear them, and Hanamaki purposely turns his back to their direction. 

 

“Aren’t you curious?” Kyoutani wonders. 

 

“Nope,” Hanamaki says shortly. 

 

“Why?” 

 

“Because, rejection is always a possibility, no matter how pretty he thinks I am.”

 

“You were listening?”

 

“Yeah, I’m-not-good-with-this-feelings-shit-san.”

 

“Shut up,” Kyoutani growls. 

 

“Tell me when Oikawa is gesturing me over,” Hanamaki says, squeezing his eyes shut. Kyoutani looks over, and Oikawa has his hand on Matsukawa’s shoulder, and is saying something very seriously. He sees Matsukawa touch his nose then gesture their way. 

 

“How does it look?” Hanamaki says, without opening his eyes. 

 

“I dunno man, I can’t read lips,” Kyoutani says. They’re having a staring contest now, and Kyoutani has bets on Oikawa as the winner. He’s right, because Matsukawa looks away after a minute, and leans his head back and looks at the sky, hands in the pockets of his jeans. He must of said something, because Oikawa grins, and gestures them over. 

 

“Tooru’s waving,” Kyoutani says. Hanamaki whirls around and dashes towards them. Kyoutani follows them because he’s curious. 

 

“Welp, he said yes, obviously!” Oikawa says, as if Matsukawa isn’t standing right there. 

 

“Obviously,” Matsukawa says, tilting his head back down. 

 

“Why?” Hanamaki says after a second. 

 

“You broke my nose.”

 

“What?”

 

“You broke my nose, and I still think you’re pretty. What do you think?” Matsukawa says. Hanamaki looks at him, then leans over, and kisses him softly on the tip of his nose.

 

“I’m sorry,” he says,” Think you can forgive me?” 

 

“I already have,” Matsukawa says, and they smile at each other. Is he gonna have to deal with this shit all the time now? Oikawa grabs his shoulder and steers him away. 

 

“Well, that’s three down,” Oikawa mutters. Kyoutani blinks. Just then, Hajime walks up. 

 

“Hey lil bro, can you- oh hey Oikawa,” Hajime says. What was he? A pile of rocks?

 

“Hi Iwa-chan!” Oikawa chirped.

 

“Did you finish that book?” 

 

“Almost!”

 

“Well I never read it, so you should tell me all about it later.” Yep, definitely a pile of rocks. He hoped he was at least an interesting pile of rocks. Like, shiny or something.

 

“Okay!” Oikawa says, and skips off.

 

“All of you people are sickening,” Kyoutani deadpans. 

 

“What?” Hajime says, snapping his head back to Kyoutani. 

 

“Nothing,” Kyoutani sighs,” Want did you need?” 

 

“ Asahi asked me to tell you since he’s so busy to go check on the greenhouses,” Hajime shrugs. Kyoutani sighs. 

 

“Alright, but what are you going to do about  _ that _ ?”

 

“About what?” Holy shit this wasn’t happening. Kyoutani is already fed up with feelings today and it’s barely noon. 

 

“About whatever  _ thing _ you’ve got going on with Oikawa.”

 

“There is no  _ thing _ going on with Oikawa,” Hajime retorts. Kyoutani sighs. Can’t he just like, Hibernate through the winter? That would be so much better than having to deal with this crap. Maybe he could borrow Kageyama’s new cloak and pretend he was a bear. Bears were cool.

 

“Hajime. Nii-chan.”

 

“...What?”

 

“Have I ever lied to you? Haven’t I always told you straight?”

 

“No, and yes…”

 

“Then I’m telling you now, Your crush on Oikawa is the size of planet earth. Get used to it.”

 

“But-”

 

“Think about it.”

 

“Think about what?”

 

“You said you want pups right? A nice life with someone?”

 

“Yeah, but-”

 

“Can you picture Oikawa?”

 

“Can I what?   
  


“Picture Oikawa? As that person?” Kyoutani asks him. He watches the cogs turn in Hajime’s head as he stares at him, cheeks growing red.

 

“Holy shit, I have a crush on Oikawa.”

 

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Kyoutani exclaims. This guy, he swears! 

 

“Well what am I supposed to do? I’m pretty damn sure that he isn’t allowed to choose his own mate.”

 

“Seriously? What kind of bullshit rule is that? Then who chooses his mate?” Kyoutani wonders. Hajime raises his head suddenly.

 

“We could ask Yaku, he’d know,” he says, and they look at each other for a second, then start full on sprinting to the waterfall. They run past Lev, burst into his house, conveniently the door was already open, and skid to a stop in front of the small omega.

 

“Yaku!” Hajime pants,” Who chooses the Den Mother’s mate?” 

 

“Whoa, jeez you guys, nearly gave me a heart attack,” Yaku says, holding his heart,” And it’s the Den Brother or Sister. It’s one of their most important jobs.”

 

“Who’s that?” Hajime asks. 

 

“Why?” Yaku raises an eyebrow. 

 

“Because we’re curious!” Kyoutani says. Yaku doesn’t look like he believe’s him at all, and Kyoutani doesn’t blame him, he wouldn’t believe him either. 

 

“Suga,” Yaku sighs. 

 

“Thanks!” Hajime says, dashing out the door, and Kyoutani follows him. He’s not missing this dammit. They run to the center of camp, and Noya is there, talking to Tanaka excitedly about something. 

 

“Noya!” Hajime calls,” Where’s Suga?” Noya looks up, and grins wickedly, like he knows exactly what’s happening. 

 

“He’s in the grove,” Noya tells them. Hajime starts running again, and Kyoutani follows him, but this time with the addition of both Tanaka and Noya. 

 

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun,” he hears Noya say to Tanaka, and Kyoutani prays to every deity he knows to help him get through this with his sanity in tact. 

 

“Suga!” Hajime says as soon as he gets to the grove. Suga is standing there talking to none other than Oikawa himself. 

 

“Yes?” Suga raises an eyebrow at him. 

 

“C-can I talk to you?” Hajime says.

 

“Well, I don’t see why not,” Suga says smirking,” I’ll be  _ right back _ , Tooru.” He knows. Suga follows Hajime outside of the grove, and everyone there peeks out at them through the trees. 

 

“So, what did you need?” Suga asks cheerfully.

 

“You decide Oikawa’s courtmate, right?” Hajime asks, blunt as ever. Suga’s grinning widely, and Kyoutani sees Oikawa slip to the ground out of the corner of his eye, and catches him by the arm. He presses his finger to his lips, and helps him back up. Oikawa looks at him with an eyebrow raised, but quickly turns back to the exchange. 

 

“I do indeed!” Suga chirps. Hajime flat out bows to him.

 

“I would like to ask you to consider me to be his mate,” Hajime says, and straightens up, and Kyoutani has never seen him more embarrassed, not even that one time when he slipped and fell on a bucket of clay and fell into the river and everyone laughed at him. Suga grins even wider if that were possible. Do his cheeks hurt? They look like they hurt. 

 

“Give me  _ one _ second, okay?” Suga says winking and holding up one finger up, then dashing their way. 

 

“Well, Tooru?” Suga says.

 

“ _ Please _ ,” Oikawa whispers. Suga laughs, then dashes back.

 

“Well?” Hajime asks, shifting from foot to foot and running his finger through his hair nervously. 

 

“Okay! You’ve been accepted!” Suga says,” Tooru! Get out here!” Oikawa tries to run in the opposite direction, but Kunimi subtlely blocks him, and Tanaka and Noya grab Oikawa and shove him through the trees in their direction. He stumbles right into Hajime arms, and sputters into a blushing mess. 

 

“You know something?” Hajime finally asks.

 

“W-what?” Oikawa stutters. Hajime smiles and brushes his hair out of his face. 

 

“I thought that maybe you were like a fallen stars I always wished upon when I was small, but I was wrong. You’re a whole galaxy,” Hajime says, and Oikawa positively melts. Suga scoots away joins them behind the trees. 

 

“Wow, smooth move Iwaizumi,” Tanaka whispers. 

 

“Okay, I think I’m done, I am so emotionally exhausted right now it isn’t even funny,” Kyoutani whispers. Suga snorts. Kyoutani walks in the other direction and loops around, as to not disturb the scene. He heads to where the greenhouses will be, and he has to remind himself to stop by the Infirmary later, as he’s getting a migraine. He gets there, and Ennoshita and Yahaba are sitting over a small table with some paper. He walks over, and looks over their shoulders. In the picture, there are two identical greenhouses with just two plots of land. The walls were made of solid wood, and the top was glass. It was very uninventive, and kind of a waste of space.

 

“Eek! When did you get there?” Yahaba said. 

 

“When I got here,” Kyoutani said, remembering what Oikawa had said a few days ago. Ennoshita frowned. 

 

“So what do you think?” Yahaba asked. Kyoutani did not feel like going into detail. Not like they would care anyway.

 

“It’s stupid,” he said instead, and stomped off. 

 

“Oi! Tell me what’s wrong with it!” Yahaba said.

 

“Yahaba, just let it go,” Ennoshita told him.

 

“No! He’s being a jackass, and I want to know what’s wrong with it!” Yahaba fumed,” Oi! I know you can hear me! Don’t ignore me!” Kyoutani could hear him very well, and he was very loud, and was making his headache worsen. This irritated him. 

 

“Go away!” Kyoutani growled.

 

“No! You came up to  _ me _ and said something rude!” Yahaba stomped. Kyoutani whirls around when Yahaba grabs his arm. 

 

“What, could you  _ possibly _ fucking want?” Kyoutani snarled. Then something flashed in Yabaha’s eyes. Not fear. Not contempt. A fiery, livid kind of determination. Yahaba grabbed his shirt and shoved him up against a tree. 

 

“Listen here. I don’t know who you think you are,” Yahaba said, hand shaking, but his voice a calm sort of anger,” But you are  _ not _ allowed to talk to me like that. I am a fucking human being, and I deserve to be treated as such. You are being a jackass. Sort yourself the fuck out.” And with that, he let his shirt go, stalked back towards a panicked looking Ennoshita, and Kyoutani was left standing there, eye’s widened and adrenaline rush through his veins. Kyoutani slowly began to walk to the Infirmary, mind racing. Yahaba told him straight off that he was being a jerk, told him to reevaluate. Nobody talked to him like that, completely and bluntly honest and, quite frankly, a little pissed off. In fact, even his own brother steered clear of his anger issues. But this guy...he was someone to watch out for. Kyoutani grinned. He was someone to respect. He walked into the Infirmary, and Yamaguchi was there, looking through a cabinet. Good, he didn’t feel like dealing with Yachi’s nervousness right now. Yamaguchi was a little more bearable. Yamaguchi looked up and saw him. 

 

“Migraine?” he asked. Kyoutani nodded. Yamaguchi gave him some herbs to chew on, and Kyoutani laid down on a bed, thinking. Then he got up, grunting his thanks to Yamaguchi, and went back to the greenhouses. When he got there, Ennoshita was gone, and Yahaba was angrily throwing stones at the same tree he had thrown Kyoutani against. When he saw him, Yahaba growled.

 

“What are you doing here?” he said. Kyoutani shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground before speaking.

 

“It’s a waste of space.”

 

“What?” 

 

“The blueprint. You have a lot more space in such a large area, and you’re not doing anything with it. And there’s not enough light.” Yahaba blinked at him suspiciously. 

 

“What do you suggest I do then?” Yahaba said. Kyoutani looked him in the eyes, then walked past him, towards the table with the blueprint. 

 

“First of all, windows. Small rectangular ones, that will let light onto the opposite wall, so they have to be pretty high, but not so high to where you can’t clean them. My mother always said the trick to a good greenhouse is clean windows. Let’s in more light.” Kyoutani added the windows in.

 

“...That makes sense.” 

 

“Second of all, If you have this flat, not only is it a waste of space, but it makes irrigation harder. So make this a shelved planter. Maybe with the bottom made of like, nylon? Then the water will be able to pass through all the way to the bottom.” He erased and sketched it in. 

 

“That’s genius! And if I made those smaller in diameter, I would be able to fit more smaller shelved planters here and here! Also, that would leave a lot of wall space free, so I could make a thin planter that stretches around the perimeter, and grow wall climbers!” Yahaba grabbed the pencil from him and drew it in. 

 

“You could also make the door smaller, which would maximize warmth by the way, and put two more planters on either side. And maybe add in hooks on the top of this wall for hanging plants.” Kyoutani grabbed the pencil back and sketched it in. 

 

“I could make the ceiling lower, to maximize warmth.”

 

“Good idea.”

 

“Thank you. Maybe you’re not as much of a jackass as I thought. Where’d you learn all this anyway?” Yahaba wondered. Kyoutani shrugged. 

 

“You’re not as shallow as I thought. And my mother. She loved to garden, and take care animals and shit. She was like a goddamn modern Snow White. My brother is always telling me how much I’m like her, because I remembered all of it. I can’t help that he has no green thumb and absolutely murders any plant he touches. And animals naturally like me, what am I supposed to do about that? Plus, they are kind of cute.” Kyoutani rambled. Yahaba is staring at him, and suddenly he feels uncomfortable. Why in the world did he say all of that? He sort of steps backwards, and turns away.

 

“Well, bye. Hope I helped,” Kyoutani says, then pauses,” And I guess I’m sorry.” Then he hurries away, before Yahaba can say anything back. 

  
  


♡                             ~                             ♡

  
  


He walked back to the workshop, and found Asahi putting the finishing touches on the bed. 

 

“Oh there you are. I was beginning to think  _ all _ of you abandoned me. How did it go at the greenhouses?” Asahi asked. 

 

“I guess it was okay,” Kyoutani shrugged. 

 

“Better than nothing,” Asahi sighed,” Help me carry this to Akaashi’s.”

 

“How are you going to fit it through the door?”

 

“All of my beds are easy to take down and put back together. I don’t use nails on beds, specially made wooden pegs instead,” Asahi explained. 

 

“Oh,” Kyoutani murmured. He helped Asahi take it apart, and carry it over. Akaashi directed them into a bedroom, and Kyoutani put it back together again while Asahi went to go check Kiyoko’s new house. He finished and left, Akaashi calling out his thanks. 

 

“Kyouken-chan!” Oikawa called. What the fuck. Mad Dog? Why did his brother have to like  _ this _ one? 

 

“Don’t call me that,” Kyoutani growls. He doesn’t like guys like this, calculating and sly. That manipulated people too easily.

 

“Nope! Too late!” Oikawa said brightly, clapping his hands together,” Iwa-chan told me all about how you made him realize his feelings! So thanks for that!” 

 

“And I’m starting to regret it,” Kyoutani snapped. 

 

“Oh? But why?” Oikawa says, tilting his head.

 

“Because, even though I want my brother to be happy, I don’t like guys like you,” Kyoutani says,” And now I’m gonna be  _ related _ to a little shit like you.” 

 

“That’s not very nice!” Oikawa pouted,” If you didn’t like me so much, then why did you catch me when I slipped?” 

 

“I dunno,” Kyoutani says, hunching his shoulders,” I guess because even though I don’t like you, I’m not that mean to where I would let you get hurt.” Oikawa’s eyes bore into him, and Kyoutani feels exposed, like all of his feelings and secrets are being laid bare. Dammit, this is why he doesn’t like guys like this. 

 

“What do you want?” Kyoutani barks,” I’m not in the mood to deal with this crap.” 

 

“It’s dinner time,” Oikawa shrugs. 

 

“Then why didn’t you start with that instead of trying to psychoanalyze me!” Kyoutani complains. Oikawa blinks, surprise clear on his face. The he laughs. 

 

“Wow Kyouken-chan! I didn’t think you would call me out on that! Nobody ever does!” Oikawa says,” You must be really honest.”

 

“There you go,” Kyoutani says,” You’re doing it again. I don’t like it. Stop. And don’t hink I haven’t noticed that stupid book too.”

 

“Observant as well,” Oikawa hums.

 

“You know what?” Kyoutani says,” You’re getting a rise out of me. You piss me off, but I can’t do anything about it, because Nii-chan’s gonna get mad. So I’m going to walk away. Don’t follow me.” And he walks away, circling around the grove to get to the campfire so he doesn’t run into anybody. When he gets there, everyone is more or less there, besides Asahi, Akaashi, and Bokuto surprisingly enough. Oikawa is safely on the other side of the clearing, hanging off of Hajime’s arm. Diversion successful. Kyoutani walks a little ways away, and leans on a tree. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Akaashi arrive and start talking to Yahaba. Yahaba looks happy, if a bit strained. They start serving food, and Kyoutani waits til Yahaba has gotten his serving, and sat down to grab his own food. Just as he raises the spoon to his mouth to eat his soup, Bokuto comes into the clearing. Kyoutani nearly groans. Bokuto makes it his personal mission every dinner or so to try and make Kyoutani join the others. Emphasis on try. Kyoutani can tell it’s coming, because it hasn’t happened in so long. He’s never hated being right so much, because Bokuto hops right over and starts pulling on his arm. 

 

“Come on! Why are you all the way over here?” Bokuto says. 

 

“Let me go!” Kyoutani snaps back, and he digs his heels into the ground. They grapple for another minute, and Kyoutani’s becoming irritated, because usually Bokuto gives up by now, except he hasn’t given up, and Kyoutani’s reached his limit. He starts snarling and Growling, and Bokuto finally lets go. Kyoutani is still growling and snarling, eyes narrowed in challenge. Then something else happens.

 

“Shut up and sit down Kyoutani,” Yahaba says from his spot, not even bothering to look up, and Kyoutani listens, because he doesn’t want to make him angry again. He licks his lips and sits down, and when he does, everyone’s jaws drop. He even managed to surprise Oikawa. Bokuto slowly backs away, and everyone is staring between him and Yahaba, but Kyoutani just starts eating, glaring at them all, because Yahaba didn’t say he couldn’t do that. Ha. He found a loophole. Everyone slowly starts talking again, and soon enough dinner is over. Just as he’s about to leave, Kuroo walks up to him.

 

“Hey, can you do me a favor?” he asks him. Kyoutani shrugs. Whatever, it’s not like he’s not doing anything right now anyway. 

 

“Cool, thanks. I’ve gotta pick up extra blankets for Kenma from Yaku, but I need some more wood, and I wanted to be in before dark today,” Kuroo explains,” Do you think you can-”

 

“I’ll chop some wood,” Kyoutani cuts him off,” I need to get out some frustration anyway. Plus, I should probably stock my own pile while I’m at it.” 

 

“Cool, thanks!” Kuroo’s face brightens. Kyoutani walks away, and jogs lightly to the woodpile. He grabs an axe, and because it’s getting dark and everyone is going inside or out for a patrol, and he’s adequately hidden by a gathering of trees, he takes his shirt off. He ignores the white scars that litter what he can see of his torso, And starts chopping wood. Once he thinks he’s got enough for Kuroo, and He’s starting on himself, he hears a gasp behind him, and his head whips up to see Yahaba standing there, eye’s wide. He grits his teeth. If he pities him, he’s gonna be pissed. But Yahaba doesn’t do that. Instead, he walks right over, and turns around, lifting the back of his shirt. Diagonally across his bare back is a long, white, jagged scar. It was horrible looking. He lowers his shirt, and turns back around.

 

“It’s horrible looking,” Kyoutani says. 

 

“Well, now we match,” Yahaba retorts with a grin. And suddenly, Kyoutani feels extremely grateful. But instead of showing it, he looks down and goes back to chopping wood. Yahaba sits down in the grass next to him, and they sit in silence until Kyoutani’s almost done, and Yahaba speaks up. 

 

“Why do you and Iwaizumi-san have different names?” he asks. And Kyoutani looks up, startled by the question. 

 

“Because we have different dads,” Kyoutani shrugs. 

 

“Where’s your family?” Yahaba prompts. 

 

“My family is here,” Kyoutani answers easily,” Everyone in this camp. Even you.” Yahaba blinks at him. Kyoutani finishes with what he’s doing, and picks up one pile of wood. Yahaba wordlessly picks up the other. Kyoutani knows he’s not supposed to say thank you, so he doesn’t. They walk to Kuroo’s, and Kyoutani rattles the door with his foot. Kuroo opens it, and Kyoutani shoves the pile of wood in his arms, ignoring the thank you he got in return. He holds his arms out to take the pile from Yahaba, and he passes it to him. Then Kyoutani walks in the direction of the big house, which was just finished today, and all the uncourted omegas and alpha’s without homes moved into it. Kyoutani leaves Yahaba at the door without so much as a goodbye, and he spots several eyes peeking through the windows, watching them. He waits a safe distance away until Yahaba enters the home, and continues on his way. While walking back home, he hears a crack of a stick behind him. He still has a feeling the day is not quite finished with him yet.

  
  


♡                             ~                             ♡

  
  


Kyoutani drops the pile of wood outside his door, and then walks in. He freezes when he sees Hajime sitting at the table, feet kicked up, and leaning back, balancing the chair he’s sitting on on two legs. Kyoutani decides to mostly ignore him, and he starts a small fire in his cookstove. Then he begins to boil some water, ignoring his brother’s gaze. 

 

“You’re gonna fall,” Kyoutani says finally,” And I’m gonna laugh when you do.” Hajime only smiles.

 

“You sound like mom,” he says. 

 

“Shut up,” Kyoutani snaps back. Hajime laughs, and there’s a soft plunk that tell him that Hajime’s chair is now completely on the floor. He looks over, and Hajime leans his elbows on the table, and rests his face on them. 

 

“So what’s up with Yahaba?” Hajime asks. 

 

“Get your elbows off the table,” Kyoutani says, ignoring the question,” It’s rude.” Hajime moves his elbows.

 

“You’d make a good dad,” Hajime says. Kyoutani blushes, and takes the now boiling water off the stove, and puts it inside his battered teapot. He should nick Tanaka’s. He won’t miss it, he never even uses it. He puts a some of his hand-made tea in it, and grabs two cups from the cupboard. He slaps all three on the table, and sits down.

 

“He pinned me against a tree and told me off,” Kyoutani says, looking down at his hands. 

 

“So now you respect him?” Hajime asks.

 

“So now I respect him,” Kyoutani confirms. There’s a beat of silence while Kyoutani pours the tea. 

 

“Oikawa spied on you,” Hajime says after a second. 

 

“I know,” Kyoutani says,” I heard him on my way home.” 

 

“Fuckin’ Crappykawa,” Hajime says fondly, and Kyoutani wants to gag,” Anyway, you might want to watch it. I have a feeling he’s honing in on you next.”

 

“Thanks,” Kyoutani says.

 

“No problem,” Hajime says, and gulps down the tea,” Now I should get home before he starts whining.” 

  
  


♡                             ~                             ♡

  
  


**_Three Days Later_ **

 

“Kyouken-chan!” Oikawa calls. Oh, will this guy leave him alone already? Kyoutani ignores him. This only makes the problem worse. 

 

“Stop ignoring me!” Oikawa pouted. Kyoutani continues to ignore him. Then Oikawa surges forward, trying to grab his arm. Reflexively, he hops a step away. Oikawa comes forward again, and he turns and breaks into a flat out sprint. But apparently, Oikawa has been running every morning and is still working out, and is still in shape, because this guy sprints after him, and Kyoutani has to keep it at full power to be able to have some ground on him. He dodges into the Infirmary, and moves out the back entrance not many know is even there, but Kyoutani knows because he spends so much time there, and sprints towards the almost completed greenhouses. Yahaba is there, looking over the blueprints. Kyoutani skids to a stop in front of him, and grabs his shoulders.

 

“ _ Hide me, he’s coming _ ,” Kyoutani hisses, and Yahaba immediately shoves him into a greenhouse. Thirty seconds later, he hears Oikawa skid into the area.

 

“Have you seen Kyoutani?” Oikawa asks. 

 

“Yeah, he just ran right passed me!  _ Didn’t even say hello _ , the bastard,” Yahaba says. 

 

“Which way did he go?” Oikawa asks. 

 

“Towards the workshop,” Yahaba says,” Why-” Kyoutani hears Oikawa speed off. Yahaba opens the door. 

 

“Hi,” Kyoutani says. Yahaba burst out laughing. 

 

“Hi,” Yahaba grins at him, and Kyoutani feels pleased. It was  _ him _ who put that smile on Yahaba’s face. 

 

“Wouldn’t he usually be able to tell if someone was lying?” Kyoutani wonders.

 

“Yeah, but I haven’t lied to him since I was eleven,” Yahaba says,” And he was in a hurry.” 

 

“Jeez,” Kyoutani says. Yahaba shakes his head.

 

“Now get outta here, I have work to do,” Yahaba tells him. Kyoutani jogs away, still a little tired from sprinting so far. He starts to wonder, not looking where he’s going, and runs, smack into Bokuto. 

  
  
♡                             ~                             ♡

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That last scene is pure indulgence.


End file.
